Life is Derby
by rowanred81
Summary: New AU! Max Caulfield returns to Arcadia Bay after five years! Attending Blackwell Academy, Max hopes to try out for the Blackwell Bombshells only to run into a familiar face. What went down between her and Chloe to leave a chip on both girls' shoulders? Laughs, drama, angst, friendship, romance, angst! ;)
1. Chapter 1

**"The Power is On" by The Go! Team**

The old Arcadia Bay Cannery building smelled vaguely of fish almost every day, the exception being "Derby Night", when teams both local and away would clash in the track. The lights focused entirely on the girls speeding by in their jams, the audience was effectively blacked out so that no one's attention was anywhere else but the middle of what had amounted to a gladiatorial arena for the teams of girls willing to kick, sweep, and elbow their ways to victory when being fast wasn't good enough. Max Caulfield leaned against the safety railing separating the track and its own safety wall from the audience, tucking back some of her chestnut hair as she squinted in the darkness to catch a glimpse of her ex-girlfriend/friend Rachel Amber. Watching the dirty blonde whiz by just as she'd been thinking of her, Max smirked when Rachel blew a kiss her way and shook her head while snickering.

Max was new to Blackwell Academy, the school she was attending with Rachel and a number of the other girls in Arcadia Bay's local Blackwell Bombshells, but she was not new to Arcadia Bay itself. Having spent the past five years in Seattle, the otherwise shy social wallflower and geek always came alive at the sight of a derby match-up. The Bombshells, licensed members of the Junior Roller Derby Association, were one of the top five teams in the Northwest division and only one spot lower than Max's former team in Seattle. The Blade Runners had been one of the more kitsch teams, the uniform requirement simply that you looked like you came out of the movie _Blade Runner._ _I don't mind the dressing up,_ Max thought as she looked at how casual the bombshells' different styles were, _but some of them took it to the point where their dress-up was more important than the matches themselves._ _Someone needs to sort out their priorities, amirite?_

"C'mon, Rachel! Don't let that bitch keep you down!" Max called out, hands cupped to her mouth as she watched a girl from the away team sweep Rachel's legs out from under her. Bearing the helmet cover of a pin-up girl straddling a bomb, Rachel was the jammer as Max had been on her team, "You're the jammer, Rach! You've gotta get that speed going!"

"I know, Max! Jesus fucking Christ, I know!" Rachel shouted back, Max laughing at how Rachel could pin down her yelling through the audience's noise.

Seeing Rachel quickly get back onto her feet, Max watched as her friend seemed to go off like a rocket, catching speed seemingly from nowhere as she shot forward and _just_ managed to catch up to the other team's jammer. Forcing the jam to continue on by catching up, Max looked up at the timer display hanging against the one of the cannery's walls and saw it begin to tick down from 30 seconds. _C'mon, Rachel! You've got this!_ Max thought as she slammed her hands down onto the metal safety railing and quickly brought them back up, wincing at the impact and how her palms were both numb and sore at the same time. Hearing the buzzer, Max looked up in dismay at having missed Rachel scraping by with three points for the Bombshells. Seeing Rachel take off the helmet cover and hand it to her teammate Taylor Christensen, another one of Max's classmates, Max smiled when Rachel skated over and took a knee so that she could climb the safety wall to reach over and give Max a hug.

"I'm so glad you came, Max!" Rachel shouted over the den of cheering and hooting attendees, "You should be in there with us!"

"You're scrimmaging the day after tomorrow, right? That's when I'll give it a shot!" Max shouted back, giggling a little when Rachel affectionately ruffled her hair and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Don't you think you should get back in there?"

"Nah," Rachel said, skating alongside Max as they headed off to a quieter part of the cannery, the raised bleachers parting into an empty area of the building that was reserved for after-match concessions and each team's merchandise booth, "The match is almost over, and besides, I have to set up the merch booth and ready the popcorn and all that shit. Care to help? Oh! Hey, Katie!"

Max looked in the direction Rachel was waving and ran across the open space to nearly tackle a grinning Kate Marsh, the Bombshell dressed conservatively in a preacher's jacket with her youth ministry's t-shirt underneath and denim shorts. A pair of angel wings printed on the back of the jacket, the words "Angel of No Mercy" was stenciled in white between the wings. Helmet off and tucked under her arm, hair back in its usual bun, Kate looked more like herself outside of the derby than she did at the matches. _Hard to believe this quiet little angel is a monster on the track,_ Max thought as she gave Kate one more squeeze before pulling back to look her friend up and down. Seeing Kate blush, Max blushed in return at Kate likely having taken the cursory inspection the wrong way.

"No no no, Kate!" Max said, hands up, " I was just looking to see if you were okay? Y'know, bumps and bruises? All that shit?"

" _Ohhhh_ ," Kate said, the relief on her face wounding what little pride Max had towards her own appeal, "Yeah, some bruises on my butt, probably. The girls on the other team, _ugh_ , they're vicious when they don't need to be!"

"Katie, sweetie," Rachel said, zipping by on her skates to hand Kate a box filled with bags of popcorn ready for popping, "Roller derby isn't exactly Nerf dodgeball like in P.E. Besides, you're a little hellion on wheels yourself, Marsh. Max, help me set up the merch?"

"Sure," Max said, squeezing a pouting Kate's shoulder before she walked over to where Rachel was opening up and unboxing shirts, prints, and hats, "Rachel, where do you all get the money for this stuff?"

"Winnings, mostly, but Victoria's mom is also a big help," Rachel said with a shrug as she lit a cigarette and took a drag before handing it off to Max who did so as well, "She _dislikes_ Victoria playing but _likes_ the photos Victoria takes of us playing enough that she did a mini-exhibit on 'Youth Angst in the Modern Gladiators' or whatever. Something along those lines. Hand me those shirts?"

"I don't understand Victoria, sometimes," Max said, her frustration causing her voice to go up half an octave or so, "She's so mean at school sometimes, even cruel, but here she's like _the_ friendliest-"

" _Hey_!" Rachel said, the offense she had taken evident by the look on her face.

"-the friendliest person I know _, next to you_. She'll talk shit about my photography in class, then praise my getting a clean shot during a jam of her elbowing a girl's nose so hard that it spurted up blood like a small fountain. Just… She's confusing, you're all confusing, everything's confusing! _Ugh_!"

"Coming from 'Mad Max Caulfield', I opt to take that as a compliment" Rachel said with a smirk, her chiding tone getting an obligatory scowl from Max, "Max, I can't prove it because I personally haven't seen you in a match, but Victoria says you're like a totally different person on the track, too. Like, the shy geek cliché is thrown off and you're a little trash-talking psychopath-"

"How does she know?" Max asked warily, cutting off Rachel before she hung her head with slumped shoulders, "I forgot. She lives in Seattle. Duh, Max. Real smart."

"Yeah, pretty much," Rachel said with a snort before she got quiet enough that Max was curious, "Um, Max? There's a reason I asked you to help me back here tonight. Another one, I mean."

"Uh, okay," Max said, the wariness increasing as she folded shirt after shirt for the booth display, "W-What is it?"

"Nothing…Nothing bad, I hope, so there's no need to stutter. I know your worrying gets pretty hardcore when you stutter. It's just, well, you grew up here…"

"And…?"

"There's someone who would probably like to-"

"…You invited Chloe to meet you back here, didn't you?" Max asked, the flat tone of her voice causing Rachel to wince a little at the dull glare she got from her friend.

Max sighed as she put down the last shirt in what had been her small pile of tops. She hadn't spoken to Chloe in nearly five years, not since the reception after her father's funeral. William had been like a second dad to Max, so she'd taken it pretty hard, but Chloe's devastation plus the fact that Max was leaving the next day brought things to a head. They'd fought, or more precisely Chloe had shouted and yelled while Max had simply stood in Chloe's room and cried as she let her teary-eyed best friend verbally destroy her. It had not been until Chloe was panting to catch her breath that the full weight of what she had said to Max balanced out in her head.

"M-Max…Max, I'm sorry-" was the last thing Max ever heard from Chloe for five years as she'd ran from her friend, from her friend's room, and all the way out of the Price house until she was back in her own home and her own bedroom in tears.

Five years was a long time, made longer by the stubbornness of both girls. Max did not know about Chloe, but she had a shoebox full of unsent letters and a folder in her Gmail account that was listed as "Chloe" in her drafts. She'd meant to send them, every email and letter completed save for the actual sending of the correspondence. _Except you didn't, Max. What would you even really say? "Hey, Chloe. I'd say it is nice to see you but you kinda treated me like trash the last time we hung out. How are you, fuckface?" You… She doesn't get to say the things she did and just have everything be peachy with a side of keen. I'm_ not _a punching bag._

 _I'm not._

* * *

Chloe Price tried to psyche herself up as she sat in her truck, parked right outside the cannery. Desperate for any type of courage that would provide more than the feeble sensation in her stomach, she whipped out the small hip flask she carried in the back of her jeans' waistband and took a long pull of the hooch she'd swiped from her stepfather. _David's kind of a jerk, but at least his taste in liquor is hella good,_ Chloe thought as she paused for a moment before taking another drink. The sourness of the mash ran parallel to the sour feeling in her chest. For the first time since she'd exploded all over the poor brunette girl she remembered, Chloe was going to see Max. Leaning her forehead against the steering wheel of her decrepit old truck, Chloe groaned at the idea of even speaking to the pint-sized hippie. At least, that had been how Rachel had described her; a little too good of a description for Chloe's taste, she'd shrugged off the look on Rachel's face and tried not to think about what might have transpired between her childhood best friend and her current BFF.

"Da fuck do you even say to someone in this situation? 'Hi, Max! Sorry for being a bitch and never writing you or apologizing for half a decade! Drink?' Yeah, that'll go over hella smooth. Yeah…"

 _Yeah, right. She'd likely deck me in the face. I deserve it, I was such a bag of shit. It was… My dad had just_ died _, for fuck's sake. What was I supposed to do, be cheerful that she was leaving me, too? So I overreacted – so what? Shit happens, Max, and you were in the line of fire. Hella not_ entirely _my fault, dude._ Chloe slapped her cheeks, trying to get some color into her face aside from the rosiness that was already there from the alcohol she'd already drank before even getting behind the wheel and the embarrassment that had made its presence known in advance.

"Game face, Price. Just be chill, let her come to you, and don't be a fuckin' dick," Chloe told herself, the words coming out almost like a mantra as she climbed out of the driver's side of her truck and headed toward the cannery.

Having found a nice little spot next to the far entrance, Chloe would at least have a few more minutes to her thoughts as she entered the unused part of the cannery, the area that was still littered and cluttered with various garbage and dilapidated equipment. Pulling out her Zippo, Chloe lit up and took a long drag from the cigarette. Watching the cancer stick burn until it was halfway gone, she blew out a long trail of smoke between gritted teeth and snuffed it out against the double doors that led into the part of the industrial space that was used by the Bombshells. Running a hand along the wall where posters of the local team were on display, Chloe stopped at her own poster from last year and noticed that someone had marked it with cigarette burns where her eyes had been.

"Oh, that was me," Chloe said with a flat, bitter chuckle at the memory, "Getting kicked off the team will do that to you."

Getting expelled from Blackwell Academy had hurt Chloe's mother and stepfather more than her, but getting kicked off the derby team as a result of said expulsion had driven Chloe into a frenzy. Drunk and angry, she'd bitterly stumbled through town with insult after insult sliding off the tip of her liquor-loosened tongue until she found herself at the cannery. _I stacked up a couple of trash cans, fell on my ass, cussed out the cans, and then got back up so I could climb them and fuck with my own poster._ The Bombshells had been Chloe's anger management and stress relief, her means of escaping a half-broken home and an overall shitty life. Indebted to the local weed dealer, her only saving grace being that her best friend was said dealer's boyfriend, Chloe was $3,000 in debt and a school dropout. _Life is so hella not on my side._

"Chloe…?" A familiar voice asked, Chloe looking over her shoulder to see Taylor Christensen eyeing her from around the emptying bleacher stand she was leaned up against, "Bitch, where the fuck've you been? I know we weren't the closest of friends, but what the total fuck?"

"Sorry," Chloe said as she scratched at her beanie, a few more loose strands of blue hair coming out from under the head gear as her nervous tic got the better of her, "Didn't really feel like showing my face after I got expelled. Y'know, kinda hard to be here and not get in on the action. Hella hard."

"Doesn't mean you can't at least let more than just Rachel know you're still breathing, Chlo," Taylor said as she skated over and hugged her former schoolmate, "You doing okay?"

"I'm still breathing, so there is that," Chloe said, awkwardly patting Taylor's back before pulling away, "I, uh, I got my GED. I'm working a few shifts at the Two Whales and doing some tattooing out of my bedroom. Totally illegal, so my work is of course even more hella cool. How's Crapwell?"

"School's school. Be glad to graduate next spring, finally. Being away from home, going to a great school, and partying is fun but it loses some of the fun as time goes on. Anyway, what actually brought you here? You just said you didn't exactly feel up to being around here, so of course I'm dying to know."

"Max. Max Caulfield," the words came out slowly as Chloe said them, like her brain was fighting the automatic response so that an audible delay was clearly present, "We were… She was my best friend when we were kids, and someone told me she would be here tonight."

"Oh, Max? She's kinda weird, with that dumb camera, but she's also kinda cool. She asks after my mom, even went with me and Victoria to the hospital to see her. She…She didn't have to do that. It was nice, though."

Something in the way Taylor spoke had Chloe thinking that her old schoolmate was not likely among whatever people Max considered friends. They had both been loners growing up, though for different reasons; Max's shyness and social anxiety were balanced out by Chloe's extroverted nature and inability to put up with anyone's bullshit. For whatever reason, they had clicked together when they were little and hand only grown stronger in friendship until…

 _Until I fucked it up by being a shithead_ , Chloe thought to herself bitterly, _I took all my rage out on my best friend and now she's been back for over a month without so much as a word or call. 'Nuff said, Max. I know I fucked up, but you could've totally written me, too. Why the fuck didn't you write?_ Chloe waved Taylor goodbye with an awkward obliviousness as she had retreated deeper into her thoughts. Scenarios of reunions between herself and Max played out before Chloe's eyes, but only a couple ended well and the doomed ones always started off with Chloe putting her foot into her mouth by saying something cocky or stupid. _Or both_ , Chloe thought as she rounded a corner and saw down the long space through which the crowds would shuffle in and out of the building. Empty save for a merch booth that was being taken down by a couple of girls, Chloe slowed her pace from her normal saunter to a hesitant crawl as she took in the small brunette helping Rachel dismantle and box everything up. _Fuck, Max, why'd you have to go and get all hella cute an' shit? This_ _…_ _This'll only make things worse_ _…_

Chloe bit her lip as she drew closer, seeing Max in a pair of denim shorts and a grey hoodie, the t-shirt for the Bombshells peeking out from underneath the grey cotton as her backwards snapback had the Bombshells' logo on it. Chloe had designed the logo, a tattooed pin-up girl straddling an A-Bomb with a fiendish grin on her face. Now, it was like the same grin she'd drawn was egging her on, daring her to move another step before the brunette underneath exploded if she were to be discovered without having said anything.

"Uh, yo Rachel," Chloe said, deciding to try and play it cool by acting as though she didn't know it was Max, waving to her friend before acknowledging Max with feigned shock, "Whoa! Max? Um, hey… What's up? I'd heard you were back in town, dude, figured you'd eventually come an' see me. What gives?"

The quick way in which Max had spun around, eyes wide and glaring as she just stared at Chloe told her all she needed to know. Max was not exactly thrilled to see her.

 _Shit._

* * *

"Are you for cereal with that 'What gives?' bullshit?" Max asked, her jaw hanging a little with her eyes still wide open as she just stared at Chloe in relatively mute shock.

"Dude, you don't have to act like you're happy to see-," Chloe began to say, only to cringe when Max let out a bitter chuckle.

"Oh, I'm _not,_ " Max retorted, rolling her eyes when Rachel made a pleading face, "For crying… Chloe, what do you want?"

"Forget it. You hella don't give a shit, so why should I?" Chloe practically spat back, hands forcefully shoved into her pockets with her shoulders stiffened.

"Fine."

"Fine!"

" _Fine_!"

"Oh my fucking God, you're like bratty little kids!" Rachel shouted from the partially-dismantled merchandise booth, Max spinning around to look at her friend in shock with Chloe slowly approaching from where she'd been standing next to the popcorn machine, "Chloe, fucking apologize to Max! Max, actually _listen_ to whatever Chloe has to say! Please, can you two just get along enough so that if we're all in the same place it doesn't turn into a potential shitstorm? I'm done, so I'll leave the keys with Max and you two can either hash things out or not. I just thought with as much as Chloe has talked about you over the years, Max, that you might be willing to listen considering you've talked about her almost as much since I met you."

Max watched Rachel collect her things, sliding on her flannel jacket and giving both herself and Chloe quick hugs before she grabbed her skates, her gym bag, and headed out the door with a middle finger directed at both of them. The clang of the old metal door slamming shut echoed through the building, devoid of people save for the two of them. Tapping her fingers against the steel beams that supported the bleachers, Max looked over at Chloe and sighed before she took off her snapback and ran a hand through her hair. _I_ was _going to talk to Chloe, Rachel, just in my own time. I didn't need_ _…_ _whatever this is supposed to be. Still, here she is. Chloe Price, all punk-rock and blue hair. Wowser._

"I like the hair," Max said, gesturing to Chloe's azure locks, "The blue looks good on you."

"Really?" Chloe asked, almost too cheerfully. Max caught it, but kept the observation to herself, "Yeah, 'course it looks cool. Hella cool. You… You wanna see my ink, Max? Got some tattoos. A sleeve tat, actually."

" _You_ got a sleeve tattoo?" Max asked, a disbelieving smirk on her face as she walked over to where Chloe was standing, "Let's go sit on the bleachers or something. I've been standing most of the night, taking shots of the team, the match, and helping Rachel with the merchandise. My feet need a break."

Chloe following alongside, Max stopped by one of the team's coolers that she figured Rachel forgot. Grabbing a couple bottles of water, Max deliberately shoved one into Chloe's chest and climbed up the bleacher's before the blue-haired girl who had once been her friend could say a word. At least, Max figured she had until they sat down. _I wish Rachel wouldn't have done this. Chloe_ _…_ _She brings back too many good memories that get squashed by the final bad one and then_ five years _of nothing. I don't know what the hell you were expecting by coming here to see me, Chloe, but I'm not your little buddy anymore._

"So what the fuck was that about?" Chloe asked, pointing at the wet spot on her chest where the water bottle had been pressed against her, "You got something to say, Max? Just fucking say it."

"Five years, Chloe," Max said, eyes narrowed as she inclined her head to cast a sidelong glance at the other girl, "You tear me up, have me running home in tears, and then _nothing_ for five fucking years. I would say 'Go fuck yourself', but I don't think that comes close to how I feel right now…"

"Y'know, you hella could've written me. Or, I dunno, _email_ ," Chloe snapped back, though her glare diminished somewhat under the same sidelong glare Max had been giving her since they'd sat down, "Don't…Don't look at me like that, Max."

"Like what?"

"Like _that_. Like you're being fucking mean."

" _I'm_ mean?" Max scoffed, pointing a finger at herself with a wide-eyed look of incredulity on her face, "I'm mean for giving you 'a look', but you're expecting things to be cool between us after you broke my heart? Chloe, we were best friends and you stomped on all of it. _Now_ you want to talk, when I've spent a month debating if I was even willing to see you? Wowser."

Max chugged down the remains of her bottle, having taken sips whenever Chloe had spoken or the silence between them had become too awkward. She did not want their first talk in five years to go like this, but Chloe just strolling up like it was nothing had set Max off, and she wasn't willing to let the other girl's aloofness negate her feelings. _I'm pissed, Chloe, and I'm hurt. We were inseparable for nearly a decade and you fucking blew it apart with one terrible shouting spree and five years of radio silence. You didn't even try. I did send you_ one _email, for cereal, but you never replied._

"'Will you still be my friend?'" Max said, remembering the first line of the email she had actually sent to Chloe. When she looked over and saw Chloe's body stiffen at the words, Max knew then that the bluenette remembered the message, "You couldn't even reply to that…"

"Fuck, Max!" Chloe shouted as she stood up, irritated by Max's simultaneous calm and anger, "I-I hella didn't think I deserved another shot, okay? And you-"

"I didn't get to know that because you _never fucking replied_ , you dumbass!" Max said, her calm snapping in an instant as she got to her feet, "You did what you always did back then. You decided for the both of us, and I bet you also did it so that you wouldn't feel so bad at breaking your best friend's heart."

"Max, stop."

" _You_ didn't talk to me because if you did I would be a reminder of what you _said_ to me."

"Max, fucking quit. I know I fucked up, okay? I-It's why I'm here, dude. I hella want to make things right-"

"Eat shit, Chloe."

Max watched Chloe's pleading smile, the faint glimmer in her eyes vanish with how cold her own words had been. Her phone going off, Max walked away from the punk girl she'd once known and began to furiously text as she hopped from bleacher to bleacher until she was on the floor and headed out of the building. She didn't spare Chloe another look, didn't care what the taller girl thought. Max Caulfield was done with Chloe Price, had been for years. _A broken heart and therapy will do that to you_.

 **RACHEL: How'd it go?  
MAX: How do you think, Rach?  
RACHEL: I'm sorry :(**

 **MAX:** **…** **You thought you were doing the right thing.**

 **MAX: I can't blame you for trying, but don't try again. Okay?**

 **RACHEL: You want me to come over tonight?  
MAX: Yeah. Yeah, I think I could use the company. Get some sodas from the vending machine and I'll knock on your door once I get into the dorm.**

 **RACHEL: Kay. Max?  
MAX: Yeah?  
RACHEL: For what it's worth, the photos of you and Chloe** **…** **It just seemed like it was worth a shot.**

 **MAX: I know, and I wish I felt the same. Life is strange like that. It's my life, but I can't go back to some things, have things as they were. I** **…** **I do miss her, though. I miss our kiddie adventures, playing pirates all around town.  
RACHEL: I've seen those pics, I think. Joyce has them in an album somewhere.  
RACHEL: Hey. How about I sleep over tonight and tomorrow we'll grab some food at Two Whales. I'm sure Joyce would love to see you.  
MAX: I dunno** **…** **Are you for cereal? No surprise Chloe?  
RACHEL: Just us** **…** **and whoever else is eating there.  
MAX: Okay. Be there soon.**

Max switched off her phone just as a hand grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around. Gritting her teeth with a clenched jaw, Chloe Price stared at Max with bloodshot eyes as tears ran down her face. Frozen in place by the raw emotion coming off of Chloe, Max felt her lower lip quiver from the uncertainty that Chloe's seeming instability brought. She couldn't be sure if Chloe was going to punch her or hug her, though Max figured it would likely be one of the two. To her surprise, and Chloe's from what Max read of the other girl's face, she was just shoved aside so Chloe could storm out of the building. Not knowing what else to do, Max chased Chloe through the metal double doors.

* * *

"What were you expecting, Chloe? A warm hug and giggles? Are you cereal?"

Chloe heard Max ask that question, though in truth she didn't want to hear it at all. She didn't want to see, hear, or touch Max Caulfield at that moment. All Chloe wanted was to go home and blaze. After the shell shock of Max reacting to her the way she had, Chloe had very little faith that the girl she'd befriended when they were both in the single digits was willing to give her an honest chance. _I_ _…_ _I want to just turn around and smack the shit out of that little hippie's mouth, just knock the attitude clean out of her. Who the fuck_ _…_ _Max, you never gave me_ _…_ _I just wanted to come here to say that I'm sorry. What do I do, instead? I front, because of-fucking-course I do. That's all I do, really, in situations like this. God, Chloe, you're such a dumbass._

"Just… Just forget it, forget we even ran into each other tonight," Chloe said, not looking back as she wiped the tears from her eyes while making a beeline for her truck, "I guess I can say sorry a bajillion times and it'll never be enough, right? So forget-"

Chloe felt Max push her, getting shoved into the driver's side door of her own truck as the sound of crying could be heard from somewhere close behind her. Bracing herself so her head didn't collide with the door's window, Chloe bared her teeth and spun around to see Max angrily standing only a few paces away. Her fists clenched and her feet spaced apart like she was gearing up for a fight, the only thing that had Chloe relieved that an actual fight was not going to happen could be found in the tears the other girl was shedding. _God, Max. How much did I fuck you up? You're the most passive-aggressive person I've ever met!_

"You don't get to play the wounded one between the two of us, Chloe," Chloe heard Max stammer out, eyes shut as her voice was raised to the point of nearly shouting, "You… God, I know William was your dad but I loved him too and did you _think_ I wanted to just up and leave you?! Did you ever even consider my feelings at all? Did you?"

Chloe's jaw dropped as Max just stood there for a moment and locked eyes with her before she shook her mane of chestnut hair and stormed over to an old Vespa. Watching Max climb onto the moped, Chloe couldn't help but feel a little impressed that Max had such a cool ride. _Total hipster bike, but still hella cool. Maybe_ _…_ _If I hadn't been such a bitch that day, maybe I'd get a ride on that little beast of hers_ , Chloe thought as she watched Max peel out of the parking lot and down the street a couple of blocks before hanging a right off in the direction of Blackwell Academy. Leaning her back against her truck, Chloe shook her next-to-last cigarette from her crumpled pack of Pall Malls and lit up. The single drag of nicotine did little to calm her nerves, the feel of the cigarette itself actually being the source of what was presently calming her. Sighing, Chloe scratched at her beanie and pulled out her phone.

 **CHLOE: Rach, I fucked up.**

 **CHLOE: I** **…** **I didn't expect THAT to come from Max**

 **CHLOE: I knew she'd be hurt, but-**

 **RACHEL: What the hell were you thinking, playing it cool in a situation like that? "What gives"? Are you fucking kidding me?**

 **CHLOE: What the hell was I supposed to say?!**

 **RACHEL: Maybe "Hey, Max. Look, I was an ass and I just wanted to say I'm sorry."**

 **RACHEL: For a start. And you wonder why she got so pissed, I'm guessing.**

 **CHLOE: How** **…** **How do I make this right?**

 **RACHEL: I** **…** **She's gonna hate me for this** **…**

 **RACHEL: Look, Max and I are gonna chill at Two Whales tomorrow for breakfast before class. If your dumb ass wants to conveniently be there, then be there. Don't expect her to be fucking happy about it.**

 **CHLOE:** **…** **Wanna come over and get lit? I need to hardcore bake.**

 **RACHEL: Dude, who do you think will be playing damage control after what went down between you two? She's already called me and she's on her Vespa. She never uses her phone while driving, she's that upset.**

 **RACHEL: Look. I'll hang with her for a bit, and give an excuse like homework or whatever. You seriously need to not be an ass to her if you want to try and get back into her good graces. We're scrimmaging tomorrow and Max is trying out. Come watch. I'm gonna sign off** **–** **Max'll be here soon and the last thing she needs is to see me texting your fucking ass. TTYL! :)**

 **CHLOE: NO EMOJI**

 **RACHEL: ;) :3 :/ :P**

Snickering, Chloe ended the chat and slipped her phone into her pocket before she climbed onto the side of her truck bed. Her legs and feet resting against the metal, Chloe leaned up against the cab and smoked away. A little irritated at her own stupidity in leaving her stash back home, Chloe finished off her cigarette and flicked the butt out into the parking lot. _Step-prick will be playing the part of Paul Blart over at Crackwell, so at least I won't have to worry about him catching a whiff of my "whacky tobbacy". Maybe I'll pay Joyce a visit at the diner, score me some free baked goods to go with my getting lit so that I'll have somethin' to munch on._ Realizing in a rare moment that she was also in need of advice from her mother, Chloe grumbled as she slid off the truck and climbed into it. Blaring some random rock station on the radio, Chloe sped out of the parking lot with tires squealing as she took a left where Max had taken a right.

"Chloe, you are my daughter an' I love you," Joyce said as she poured Chloe a cup of coffee, "But you put your foot in your damn mouth so much it might as well stay there, sometimes."

"Thanks, _Mom_. The level of your support is completely lacking in encouragement," Chloe grumbled, propping her feet on the bench across from where she was sitting in her usual booth, "Uh… Sorry, Mom. That was one of-"

"Those moments? Yes, Chloe. It was," Joyce said before she walked over to the dessert display and returned with a slice of berry crumble, "Eat up, drink your coffee, and just go home. Sleep'll do you good, hun, and Max _will_ come around. You'll see. You just have to give her time to process you wanting back in her life."

"…I thought it'd be the other way around, y'know?" Chloe said between mouthfuls of dessert, savoring the sweet buttery crumble and the tartness of the raspberries in what she knew to be her mother's handiwork, "I figured I'd run into her and _I_ would be the one pissed off with her being all anxious and shit. When did she get so hardcore?"

"Well, considerin' how you two went your separate ways, I can't say as I blame her for being a little harder to reach than when you were both kids," Joyce said, sliding into the seat across from Chloe after she removed her feet, "God, I still remember when you two were little. A pair of giggling girls, running around town with missing teeth and construction paper pirate hats…"

"You make it sound like it was such a long-ass time ago, geez," Chloe said, finishing her crumble before she took a swig of her now-lukewarm coffee, "Goddamnit."

"What, hun?"

"Mom, I…I hella fucked up, didn't I?" Chloe asked, elbows propped on the table as she leaned her head into her waiting hands with eyes tightly shut, "I…I should've chased her down that day. I should've-"

"Chloe," Joyce said, reaching over to cup her daughter's cheek in a rare moment of Chloe bonding with her mother, "You can't change the past, sweetie. All you can do is try and make your life a little brighter _now_. I remember the look of surprise on your face, how you lit up, when Rachel told you about 'this freckled girl from Seattle' who had moved into the Blackwell dormitory. You didn't even know it was-"

"I _knew_ , Mom. I just did."

"…I was going to say you didn't know it was Max for sure, but I saw that look on your face. You _did_ know, without even seein' her face, that it was Max. Give her time, child. Give yourself time."

"Y'know, she's coming here tomorrow morning," Chloe said, tracing the rim of her coffee cup with a fingertip as she looked up at her mom through her eyelashes, "Rachel tipped me off. I could, I dunno, maybe take a shift or whatever."

"The last time you tried to work here you damn near threw a customer's food at 'em, Chloe," Joyce said with a grimace at the memory.

"Yeah. Stupid idea, huh? I'll just 'happen to be here', I guess."

Smiling when Joyce rolled her eyes at Chloe's lack of cash, Chloe sauntered out of the diner and to her truck when her phone went off. Lighting up the last cigarette in her pack, Chloe took a puff and nearly dropped it when she saw the text.

 **UNKNOWN: This is Max. I guess, if you want, you can have my number or whatever. This isn't my idea, so do NOT think that we're okay. We're not. I'm just** **…** **I'm keeping the line of communication open, or something. Okay. Yeah. Um, bye.**

 **Author's Notes -**

 **So, here you have it. The first chapter of Life is Derby. Not the most creative title, I know, but it fits and there's not wacky time powers or whatever so it works even more so. I wanted to highlight Max's passive-aggressive ways in this story because you can kinda play her as that in the game and I've always wondered what it would be like if Max were to come back with the chip on her shoulder. Think about it - Max and Chloe have this huge blow-up the day of William's funeral, and both girls use roller derby as a means of venting anger and frustration. Thing is, while Chloe calms down somewhat Max just kinda get these two different mindsets - one when she's just herself, and the other when she's on the track. If you think they're OOC, that's fine. They're meant to be. This _is_ an AU, after all ;)**

 **Review and let me know what you think!**

 **Stay hella, Cinnamon Rolls!**

 **PS - Wait till you read what Max's derby outfit is in the next installment, muahahaha ;p**


	2. Chapter 2

**"Rise, Rebel, Resist" by Otep**

"Oh no, I don't like getting that look from you first thing in the morning," Max said upon opening her door to find a smiling Rachel Amber waiting on the other side, "Too much happy. Rachel happy in the morning is screwy dharma."

Letting her friend in, Max let Rachel close the door behind herself while Max flopped back into bed. She hadn't slept well, memories of years ago with Chloe resurfacing once more. Happier days that had only left Max feeling increasingly bitter ever since she had returned to Arcadia Bay. Max expected such memories to come back to her, had known that being in her old town would bring up things she did _not_ want to talk about or discuss. To see the root of all those things last night, and to give Chloe her number – albeit at Rachel's pleading request – was too much for the small hipster. As a result, Max barely got a credible amount of sleep. Bedhead in the most extreme as her hair stood straight out in several directions, Max laid face down in her bed and tried to shoo Rachel away when the blonde joined her in bed before relenting under the power of Rachel cuddles. Reluctantly, Max caved and with a groan she slid into Rachel's arms as she draped one around her friend's waist. It was familiar, this closeness between them. _We_ did _date for all of, what, a week? Who would have thought that I, Max Caulfield, would have nabbed the prettiest girl in school within a week of classes starting_ _…_ _and then turn her into one of my closest friends? Wowser._

"What want Rachel?" Max asked, face half-buried in a pillow as she looked at Rachel with a single, unobscured eye, "Max want sleep. Sleep good. Wake _bad_."

"…Did you watch _Buffy_ before bed again? You are such a nerd," Rachel teased, her giggling light and airy in such a way that Max felt her defenses shudder from the impact of such melodious laughter.

"Fire bad, tree pretty. Chloe bad, Rachel _pretty_."

The giggling ceased, and a thin-lipped frown crossed the face of Max's closest friend at Blackwell. Max saw the frown and tried to push her head deeper into the pillow before rolling her visible eye. Chloe hadn't texted her back, hadn't even so much as let Max know she got the text message. Not that Max really cared. _It's the common courtesy of the thing_ , Max had initially thought when she'd kept an eye on her phone for an hour after she had sent the text, _When someone sends you a message, especially if you didn't have their number before, you totally reply back even if only to say you now have their number. Reason number 354 that Chloe is an asshole. Then again, so am I._

To the student body and faculty of Blackwell Academy, Max Caulfield was the quiet cliché girl you would see in a teen comedy that sits in the back of a class and tries her best to become just a part of the set decoration. With a C+ average for her GPA and a previous educational background consisting of homeschooling and IEP due to her social anxiety, Max was average in everything save two subjects in which she was almost a savant: photography…and roller derby. While her photography skills transferred into the art class presided over by Victoria Chase's mother, the roller derby skills had consumed a large portion of Max's after-school time. The Bombshells were something of a quirk in the realm of Blackwell Academy's sports, acknowledged only in that they used Blackwell's name and the school as a place for fundraising, but they were easily the most popular sports team on campus and the girls in said team formed their own private clique that operated outside the confines of typical school drama.

"Tryouts during the scrimmage," Rachel said, her voice a little mopey as she poked Max's cheek to the brunette's mild irritation, "You promised. Besides, Victoria would probably bawl her eyes out if we didn't get the Seattle Rookie of the Year. Way to let out the aggressive in your passive-aggressive attitude, Maxie."

"Shut _up_ ," Max whined, trying to tug on the half of her pillow that Rachel was occupying and failing miserably, "Ugh, I just wanna sleep. Remember? No English means an extra hour of no classes! We practically have the whole morning off so why-?"

"Two Whales. Food. In my tummy," Rachel said, the words authoritative enough to get a smirk out of Max.

"You're not the boss of me, Rachel Amber," Max said with a pout as she sat up nonetheless, "But I _am_ down for some noms. Does Joyce still work at the diner?"

"Yep, and she's been itchin' to stuff your face with 'Belgian waffle hospital'ty'!" Rachel cried out as she raised her arms in victory while Max simply facepalmed.

"Can I at least do my morning hygiene before you decide to drag me out of the campus? I mean, you have no car so my Vespa is _your_ means of getting off-campus, too."

"Well played, Caulfield. I could always ask Victoria for-"

"Yeah, good luck. Aside from the derby it is pretty obvious she can't stand you. Like, I've never seen her that jealous of anybody since I got here."

"She's mad jelly of your photog skills, Max," Rachel mentioned in a flirty voice as she leaned in to kiss Max briefly on the lips. Max hated it when she did that, had ever since they had agreed to be 'just friends' because Rachel would not stop with the affection.

"Rachel, you kiss me more when we're friends than you did the week we were actually dating," Max said, for what felt to her like the millionth time, "Please. Stahp."

Max watched Rachel's lower lip quiver so slightly before she flashed a quick smile and climbed out of the bed. Knowing she had likely hurt Rachel's feelings, Max was tempted to give her friend a hug. _Maybe if I let her be now, though, she won't be so damn affectionate to me later. Last time I told her to stop and she gave me that look, I caved and it only got worse. Stand your ground, Max Caulfield. Her kisses shall not pass!_ Decidedly walking past Rachel to get her toiletries, Max opened the door to her room and ushered Rachel out before stepping out herself to go get ready for the day.

* * *

Chloe looked out the barely-opened window her desk was nestled up against, blowing the smoke of her morning cigarette out in a series of small rings that dissipated the second they got close enough to the window to get sucked out into the fresh air. The coffee grounds downstairs had started to get stale, so the drink in her other hand was a little flat so far as actual coffee flavor went. Chloe didn't give a shit; nicotine and caffeine were her typical breakfast, though today she would be hitting up her mom at Two Whales for some grub. At least, she was seriously considering it.

"I know she's going to be there, so I should totally go!" Chloe cried out to herself in frustration as she chugged down the lukewarm coffee and creamer swill before taking a long drag of her cig, "This is hella bullshit. Max… Dude, we were tweens back then and my dad _had just died._ Of course I was gonna freak when I found out you were bailing! I mean, you weren't really bailing but I-I wasn't fucking thinking straight! Ugh, this sucks some major donkey dick!" Snuffing out the remainder of her cigarette, Chloe leaned back in her chair and looked at the time on her beaten-up phone. It was early, _hella_ early, but Chloe knew how early Rachel was to rise when a real breakfast was involved. Plus, her friend would want a solid meal in her system before the scrimmage so that she had some energy to run on. _Never mind Max, who seems to just run on angst and bitchiness towards me. Okay, maybe fucking justified bitchiness, but that still doesn't make it cool. I came in peace, Maxaroni, I came in fucking peace!_

The house was empty as Chloe trudged down the stairs, leather jacket in hand as she tugged her beanie on with the other. She'd seen the violet and blonde coming from her roots, knew she'd have to re-dye her hair sooner rather than later. Once her blonde started showing itself again, it was like magic and the next thing she'd know her hair would be this obnoxious, light purple color that bordered on pink. Pink was fine on other girls, but not with Chloe. _What the fuck is the point of dying my hair blue if it's just gonna turn pink?_ _Need to get some Manic Panic High Voltage from the store when I get a chance._ Leaving her coffee cup in the sink along with the few dirty dishes her mother and stepfather had left behind, Chloe snagged a bowl from the dish rack and was pouring herself a little bit of cereal when she heard her phone go off in the back pocket of her jeans.

 **RACHEL: You still coming?**

 **CHLOE: Dunno. Don't feel like getting shit on by someone I used to be hella tight with. Again.**

 **RACHEL: She's calmed down, Chloe.**

 **CHLOE: Sooooo, you two talked about me** **…** **?**

 **RACHEL:** **…** **No, but she's calm -ish. Imagine getting caught by surprise from someone you had left in a bad way years ago.**

 **CHLOE: That IS pretty much what happened, Rachel. Ass example is ass.**

 **RACHEL: :P**

 **CHLOE: Rachel** **…** **Rach, there are good men and women who served our country. They didn't do so just so that you could bombard me with emoji when you know I hate that shit. You do them a disservice.**

 **RACHEL: You get some of that from your step-prick?  
CHLOE: lmfao we barely speak at all. I just make shit up as I go along sometimes.**

 **CHLOE:** **…** **I'll be there, all trimmed and primed for what will likely be a public execution via Max Attack. Yay.**

Ignoring Rachel's follow-up text, Chloe slid her phone back into her pocket and proceeded to munch on her cereal as a small meal before what she hoped would end up being at least a hot meal courtesy of her mother's Two Whales handiwork. The image of a bacon omelette was far more appealing to Chloe than the dark glare she'd been on the receiving end of from Max. _Fucking tiny-ass hippie punk fucker, talking to me like I'm some piece of shit. She's the piece of shit, for reals._

 _She's the piece of_ _…_

 _Shit_ , Chloe thought as she slid her bowl of half-finished cereal away and leaned her head into her hands. She couldn't stomach another mouthful of the sugary breakfast food; Chloe was too nervous to eat, and too hungry to not at least try. She hadn't felt this on edge since she had been a jammer for the Bombshells.

"I…I miss you, Max. I've missed you for five years," Chloe said before she rolled her eyes and groaned, "Why the fuck couldn't I have said _that_? Why couldn't I have just apologized like, I dunno, a human-fucking-being?"

Slipping her jacket on, Chloe dumped the remains of her cereal in the kitchen sink, left the bowl there, and headed out the door to her truck. David had told her that she could at least "police herself up", whatever that military jargon meant. All she knew is that she was headed to Two Whales to go see the one person she had wanted to see for five years…who didn't seem to want anything to do with her.

"Maybe I can convince Joyce the omelette is my last meal…," Chloe said with a bitter laugh as she pulled out of the driveway and onto the street, squealing her tires a little as she hit the gas with her old beater of a truck.

* * *

Max entered the old diner behind Rachel and it was like she had stepped back into her childhood. Thirteen all over again, the linoleum countertops and retro stools were complimented by the equally old booths and the interior design of the place. The diner had some additions, framed photos here and there, but to Max it was exactly the same as it had always been. Walking over to the jukebox, she slipped in a quarter and scanned through the selection before she found "Come and Have a Go", a song that she'd heard playing over the loudspeaker at last night's derby match. Bobbing her head to the beat, Max unzipped her hoodie and played with the zipper a little when she noticed Joyce looking straight at her from behind the counter. Blushing a little, Max waved shyly at the older woman before she slid into the booth Rachel had selected. Taking the seat facing away from the door, Max set her bag down next to her and smiled amusedly at the nerd graffiti carved into the tabletop.

"That looks like something Warren would do," Max said as she jerked her chin at the math formulas.

"Maxie, that boy is still crushing on you, y'know," Rachel said as she reached over to brush some fuzz off of Max's left shoulder, "Did he ever get around to asking you to go to the drive-in with him? I heard Brooke talking about it this morning in the girls' room. She sounded kinda pissed."

"He asked, but we never really got a chance," Max said, "There was this shit that went down in the girls' room of the school building…"

"Really? Like what?" Rachel asked, intrigued even more so by how quiet Max suddenly was, "Max? Maxie? _Maxine_ …?"

" _Never_ Maxine," Max spat almost involuntarily, smiling apologetically when Rachel flinched at the venomous tone, "Sorry, but you know how I feel about that."

"Who hates their actual name? How is that a real thing?" Rachel asked with a shake of her head, "Sometimes I wonder why I hang out with you…"

"You're the best model in school and you love that I use Polaroids. Also, you never seem to stop sleeping in my bed with me except when you're not sleeping in the dorm at all. Where _do_ you go when you're not crashing in the dorm, Rach?"

"Where indeed?" a familiar voice asked, Max's head whipping to her left just in time to see Chloe come up to the booth they were sitting at. Watching the blue-haired girl sit alongside Rachel as though she belonged there, Max's eyebrows knit together as her lips thinned into a straight line, "She chills with Frank. He's her, well, _whatever._

"Chloe," Max said, neither in greeting or rejection. Max was simply acknowledging the girl's existence.

"Nice to see you too, Max," Chloe said with a lack of subtlety in her sarcasm before pouting when Rachel elbowed her, "I mean, um… Look, Max. I'm sorry for being such a dick to you back then. I…I was a complete mess and took it out on my best friend-"

"Yeah, you fucking _did_ ," Max snapped back, looking up when after the other girls did to see Chloe's mom staring at her wide-eyed, "Oh. Hey, Joyce."

Joyce Price sat down the three coffee cups and poured without her eyes leaving Max's as she took in the volatile little brunette sitting across from her daughter and her daughter's best friend.

"Max, I know that Chloe hurt you," Joyce said, raising a hand to silence Max when she tried to speak up, "I know she did you wrong, but you have _got_ to move past the bitterness. I…I was bitter for a while, bitter at William _and_ myself. I was hoping with you being in Arcadia Bay that you and Chloe could become friends again, be a positive influence on her _and_ Rachel."

Max couldn't help but snort when both Rachel and Chloe looked over at Joyce as though offense was taken, the levity of the moment dispelling her aggravation at the bluenette's intrusion on her and Rachel's breakfast. _Knowing Rachel, she probably invited Chloe to try and get us to get along. Or, well, to get me to try and be nice. This is still bullshit, though. For cereal._ Sipping at her coffee, Max ordered herself up a Belgian Waffle with a side order of bacon but ignored what the other girls ordered as she focused all her attention on Chloe until the other girl started to fidget from underneath her stare.

"Fucking cut it out, dude," Chloe grumbled, frowning when Max smiled at her discomfort, "Goddamn, you're being a Grade-A asshole. I'm _sorry_ , okay? Do you honestly think I didn't miss you, that I didn't immediately feel like shit when you ran home that day?"

"Then why the fuck didn't you ever call me, or write? Chloe, they have this magical thing online, a 'book of faces'. You might know it as Facebook. People use it to get in touch with-," Max started to say before she got cut off by the glare she was on the receiving end of from Rachel, "Fine. _Fine_. You didn't ever try and get in touch with me, so my question is why not? You bailed on me, Chloe."

"And you didn't bail on me? You could've called, too."

"Call the person who told me I was a piece of shit and that she wished that I would just leave and not come back? Um, no."

Max watched Chloe yank off her beanie and scratch at her fading blue hair, the violet and blonde up top a mess from what she assumed came with sporting a beanie all day. Something about the awkwardness and sadness on Chloe's face penetrated the hipster's defenses and Max found herself feeling regret over being how she had been toward Chloe. The part of Max who just wanted to reach across the table, the part she usually suppressed when it came to Chloe, overran her defenses and Max found herself taking Chloe's free hand and looking into the bluenette's eyes.

"W-Why did you have to hurt me so damn much? You were my b-best friend, Chloe," Max choked out as her watery eyes visibly took Chloe by surprise as the bluenette looked at Rachel before looking back at Max and then at Rachel again.

* * *

 _Damn_ was the only thing that Chloe could manage to think when Max suddenly opened up to her. The words weren't hurtful; there was a kindness in that, and a sorrow in how much she'd obviously meant to Max. _We_ were _best buds, Max. I want us_ _…_ _I want us to be together again, dude, you have no idea._ Looking back and forth between Max and Rachel, Chloe could register the need for caution metaphorically written on Rachel's face. She needed to tread carefully here, be an emotional ninja when she walked the gauntlet of Max's emotional eggshell-y feels. Coughing, Chloe set her beanie down in her lap and took Max's outstretched hand with both. _Say something cool, Chloe, but reassuring in that you want things to be better between the two of you._

"I was so fucked up that day, but I totally didn't mean to hurt you, Max," Chloe blurted out, the deadpan look on Max's face as she withdrew her hand at the comment making it obvious to Chloe that she'd fucked up, "Max, I was in so much pain that I ran you over with it and.. Ugh, I can't keep apologizing for shit from five years ago, dude! Do you know how many times I wanted to just get in touch with you to see if you even cared-"

" _Of course I cared, you ass,"_ Max lashed out, arms crossed in defense though the tearful eyes staring into Chloe made it clear that her emotional state couldn't differentiate between pain and anger, "I _waited_ , Chloe. I waited to hear from you in the hope you might reach out, but you never did."

"…Shit," Chloe thought as she put her head into her hands, "Max, I-"

Chloe cut off her sentence when Joyce returned with their food, two bacon omelettes for Chloe and Rachel with a Belgian Waffle and fresh coffee for Max. When none of the girls spoke up from the building tension, Joyce's response of a simple sigh and shake of her head filled Chloe even further with regret. She was a year older than Max, but to Chloe it was the little brunette that seemed to have aged more between them. Rachel had told her how Max was in class, shy and geeky but skilled with a camera to the point that she was cautiously making friends. _Especially at the derby,_ Chloe thought, _Taking pictures of their scrimmages and matches, never mind being in a team yourself_ _…_

"Rach told me you're gonna try out for the Bombshells today at their scrimmage," Chloe said before stabbing herself a forkful of omelette and shoving it into her mouth, chewing it down as quickly as she could to continue talking in the hope she might be able to reach Max again, "Y'know, I was in the Bombshells. Until I was expelled, anyway. It's not even officially with Blackwell, but the team still set it up that you had to be a student. Hella fucking lame."

"I know you were a Bombshell, dork," Max said with a snort that caused her to choke a little on the waffle that she had just swallowed, "I saw the poster of you that you'd defaced. 'Blue Light Special', huh? Because you're hair is blue and your last name is 'Price', right? Cute."

"Praise from 'Max Attack' is most def praise, indeed," Rachel quipped, elbowing Chloe, "Max was the Seattle teams' Rookie of the Year, Chloe."

"I know that, Rachel," Chloe retorted, face blushing when Max looked at her in shock, "I, uh, I followed your team on FB. I-I didn't know if you'd want to fucking talk to me so I did the next best thing. Dude, you're fucking wicked on the track. Like, amazeballs-level wickedness."

"Thanks," Max said with a begrudging smile, "Uh, are you coming to the scrimmage?"

"I had thought about it, but I don't-"

"You should totally come!" Max exclaimed, slamming her hands down on the table as though to emphasize how much she wanted Chloe there to the punk's quiet delight, "Rachel, Chloe could at least do the scrimmage right?"

"Uh, I guess…?" Rachel answered, her face screwed up in confusion before her eyes widened in recognition of where Max was going, leaving Chloe clueless, "Max, no-"

"What the hell is going on here that you two aren't telling me?" Chloe interjected, frustration evident by the thin-lipped expression on her face.

"You want us to get along again?" Max asked, an excited smile on her face that almost seemed to dare Chloe with its charm.

"Uh, you know it," Chloe answered with a shaky laugh, uncertain why Max was so happy. _I don't like that look on your face Max. You look like you're gonna fucking try and swallow me down like I'm one of Joyce's waffles_ _…_

"Face me. In the scrimmage."

"…I'm sorry, what? What was that?"

"Jam against me in the scrimmage," Chloe heard Max say with emphatic enunciation, but her mind was suddenly numb as she tried to conceptualize the meaning behind Max's request.

Chloe absently shoved a piece of bacon into her mouth as a means of abstaining from an immediate response. She was certain that Max had just thrown down a challenge, but what was the intent behind Max wanting to jam with Chloe? _Does she just want a shot at kicking my ass, or does she want to legit try and get along? This is a loaded request, Max, and you know it._

"Why do you want me in the scrimmage? You out to try and kick my ass?" Chloe asked as she wiped the bacon grease on her lips off with the back of her hand, "By the way, you won't. But why ask?"

"In Seattle, whenever two girls on the team had a problem they'd settle it in a scrimmage," Max explained as she played with the remaining whipped cream on her plate, "Didn't matter if they ever caught one another or not. When the scrimmage was over, they were always cool. I… Chloe, I _want_ us to be cool again. I also kinda want a chance at knocking you on your ass. Like, I _really_ want to knock you on your ass. So… 'fite me, bruh'."

"You hang around the internet too much, but if you're gonna throw down I gotta accept. It's hella on this afternoon," Chloe said as she slid out of the booth, hand outstretched as she helped Max out of the booth, "See you on the other side, Maxaroni."

* * *

"You challenge her and _now_ you're nervous?" Rachel asked as she sat in the locker room holding Max's hair as the small brunette threw up once more, "Max, what aren't you telling me?"

" _Ugh_ _…_ _,_ " Max let out in a groan before she spat what bile and mucus was left in her mouth. She was anxious about a lot of things, but Chloe was the proponent for all of it. Having been in a roller derby team before, Max wasn't all that worried about the Bombshells tryout so much as she was anxious at the prospect of daring Chloe for more reasons than she figured anyone realized, "Sorry. Just… I kinda forgot how serious Chloe takes dares. I pretty much challenged her, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you kinda did," Rachel said with an amused smirk on her face that grew when Max rolled her eyes at Rachel, "Oh, come _on_ , Max. You hella knew what you were doing and now that you've given her not only a dare but a shot at your friendship she's gonna end up knocking _you_ on _your_ ass. Dummy."

Max flipped Rachel off to the other girl's surprise as she laughed at Max's gesture before helping her to her feet. Brushing her knees off, Max grabbed some paper towels off a nearby shelf and wiped her mouth off before walking around the stall to check herself out in the mirror. She looked drained from the vomiting, but still more than capable of jamming with the Arcadia Bay team. Hearing the other girls leave the makeshift locker room next to the girls' room she and Rachel were occupying, Max turned around and flashed Rachel an enthusiastic grin before she walked out into the now-vacant changing area.

Attired in a pleated black skirt with black and orange socks that came to just over her knees, Max was wearing the orange top of a prisoner's jumpsuit costume modded out with the sleeves cut short and a black spiked collar around her neck. Finishing it up with biker gloves that were cut off just above the knuckles, Max flexed her hands until the worn gloves felt like a second skin before posing for Rachel's approval.

"So? 'Max Attack' was for the Seattle team, so I thought 'SuperMax' sounded like a cool idea," Max said, smiling excitedly when Rachel snickered and nodded before she struck a pose, "Ready for the mosh pit, shaka brah."

"…Tell Chloe that sometime and see how she reacts," Rachel said after snorting some of the Powerade she had been drinking out of her nose, "Goddamnit. Thanks, Maxie. Now all I smell is food coloring and weak-ass fruit punch."

"I aim to please."

The cannery where they held their matches was a lot different to Max than it had been the night before. The natural light outside pouring in through several large-paned windows near the ceiling showed how old and dilapidated the building was, both in terms of its structure and the interior. The old, portable high school bleachers the Bombshells used for their derby looked beyond secondhand to Max, the paint of multiple schools chipping off as she absently scratched at her seat while Victoria Chase made introductions. _Where's Chloe? She said she would be here, so is she bailing again? At least she didn't tell me anything horrible this time_ _…_ _Though, in hindsight, I've been a complete shit to her. I'm not acting any better than she had. She deserves it, though, right? I'm not the one who trashed our friendship, but I could have tried and reached out myself-_

"Max!"

"Wha-?" Max asked, looking around as her head shot up, blushing when some of the girls sitting near her giggled, "Oh! Um, sorry…"

"Caulfield, spacing out in class is one thing but _this is derby,_ " Victoria said in a no-nonsense manner, skating over to stand next to where Max sat as she was a few benches up, "Max, seriously, get your head out of your ass. Where's 'Max Attack' or whatever you're calling yourself here? I want to see the girl I saw on the track in Seattle, not the shy, twee hipster in my mother's photography class."

"Fuck, Victoria, I said I was sorry!" Max snapped, climbing down from her spot on the bleachers, "You want me, you _got_ me."

"Oooh…," a voice said from the other side of the bleachers as Max's head snapped over that way in recognition, "So _scary_ , Max. I'm… Nope, I'm not shaking in my skates."

"Chloe!" Max cried out as she skated around the bleachers and to where Chloe stood decked out in sports gear, "You're really here!"

"Um, dude, _you_ challenged _me_ ," Chloe said with a smirk on her face before she punched Max's shoulder, "If this is what it takes for us to be cool, I'll gladly hand you your ass on a platter."

"Oh, you'll know all about that soon enough, Chloe," Max shot back, sharing the smirk on Chloe's face with the one she was sporting, "Tori! Can we get started?"

Max was one of a handful of girls trying out for the open spot on the team, Courtney Wagner having to back out because she had injured her ankle to the point of not wanting to risk any further injury. Seeing Courtney play manager to the team, Max felt a pang of regret at having to try out over something so serious; it was obvious to her, and Max was willing to bet everyone else, that Courtney was upset in spite of the smile and cheeriness she exuded. Skating leisurely as she and the other "wannabes" were given a few minutes to get used to the track, Max easily spun around to skate backwards for a little bit. The track was surprisingly bump and warp-free, the wooden surface well-kept in spite of the place in which it resided. The smell of stale air, soda, and popcorn flooded Max's nostrils as she spun back around and took off when the sound of a whistle blowing told her that it was time to get ready for the speed trials. Seeing the black starting line ahead, Max braked her skates and came to a stop just behind the line.

Max felt anxious, giddy even, as the other girls lined up. She knew some of the girls; Alyssa and Brooke were in her photography class along with actual team members Kate, Taylor, Victoria, and Rachel. Kate and Taylor sported matching French braids in their hair and attire with "Twisted Sisters" written on the back of their outfits, each girl's name stenciled in just underneath the duo's moniker. Stretching her arms out, Max popped her neck and flashed a grin at Chloe before she took off down the track when Victoria blew the whistle from trackside. The speed trial was also something of an endurance run to see who could go fast for a reasonable length of time. Each jam was only 3 minutes, with each match consisting of 10 jams, so whoever was fastest in the first test would have a clear advantage. Max, in a moment of idiotic arrogance, thought it would be a cake walk but the first lap she had been dead-even with Brooke until the other girl had to slow down when Max swooped in front of her and broke off from the pack. Finishing the last quarter-length of the speed trial by skating backwards to watch her competition, Max saw Rachel snort as Chloe just watched her intently.

"Showoff," Victoria said with a smirk as she winked at Max when the brunette skated over to where she was, eager to see her time, "You know, it's not like the other girls aren't necessarily _bad_ , Max. You could _not_ be a complete dick about being first."

"I came here in seriousness, Tori," Max said, her voice and face steely in spite of the friendly grin she was sporting, " _You_ want me on your team, remember? If I go all-out, you've only yourself to blame."

"Touché, but at least don't _act_ so damn cocky. You're the rook on our team if you get in, not a fucking pop icon."

Max wasn't paying any attention to Victoria, however, as she signaled to Chloe with open and inviting arms that she needs to bring it. She smiled when she caught Chloe's silent reply of " _Consider it brought_ ".

* * *

Chloe watched as Max shot off when she cut into the path of Brooke and could not help herself from snickering while Rachel just watched intensely. Chloe had seen videos of Max in her Seattle team, but watching it was something else. _Is it bad that I kinda want to kick her ass just because she's so damn cocky?_ Chloe thought, though she quickly dismissed the idea. She was just as cocky as Max, though for her it was a 24/7 thing; she knew Max to still be the relatively shy, reclusive geek from her tween years outside of the rink and away from, well, her. That last fact brought a frown to Chloe's face as she had hoped to befriend Max all over when the girl returned to Arcadia Bay. _Back for a month and it takes Rachel pulling us together for you to even say anything. Fine, whatever. If you want to square off on the track so that we're cool again, that's fine by me. I'll knock that goddamn chip off your shoulder you blame me for. You could've called me, too. I would've picked up, Max._

Seeing Max talking to Victoria, she climbed off her perch on the bleachers and slipped her sneakers off to change into her skates. Since it was a scrimmage, Chloe left her professional skates in favor of the rough, cowhide beaters that she had always reserved for practice only. Their blotchiness of oil, sweat, and blood stains gave them a character that Chloe found appealing when she took into consideration how she came off. Lacing them up until they were snug to her satisfaction, Chloe took a quick lap around the track while all the other girls in the scrimmage partnered up. It didn't matter to Chloe who she was teamed up with because she knew that whoever they were they would be on the team opposite of Max. Taking another lap, Chloe smiled at the familiar scent of sweat and old soda, of the wax treatment used on the track so that the boards didn't warp. Knowing where the wood dipped just a little bit here and there, Chloe went into a zig-zag pattern and was picking up speed until she aptly braked when Rachel came into view with a sly grin on her face.

"You're with me this time," Rachel said, playfully shoving Chloe, "This brings back memories, eh? Cheech and Chong?"

"Dude, I hated that nickname!" Chloe said with a laugh, "Fucking Victoria. She smokes, too. Though, 'Queen of BlackHELL' certainly suits her. Nightmare on and off the track."

"And you wonder why she wouldn't make an exception for you after you got expelled…," Rachel said as Victoria herself skated up to them, "Oh, _hey_ Victoria! Who else we got?"

"You, me, Price, and that's it. We're doing a three-on-three," Victoria said with a grin as she slipped in her mouthguard and handed new ones to Chloe and Rachel, "Make sure your helmets are on nice and tight. I've seen Max in action – she likes to clothesline."

"Look at the little nerd," Chloe said with a relish as she gestured with her thumb in Max's direction, "Girl's all done-up in her outfit and it's only a tryout-"

"She's already in," Victoria blurted out, nearly slurring everything into a single word, "What? She's prime and we could use someone when her team comes down to play _us_."

"So it's not just about Max _herself_ , so much as it's also about knowing the other team's strengths and weak spots," Rachel said, stroking her chin exaggeratedly while Victoria simply rolled her eyes, "You're fucking scary sometimes, Tori."

"We gonna skate or are you three having fun gossiping?" Taylor shouted as she approached with Kate and Max behind, the other two girls laughing at some shared joke. _Max is friends with Kate?_ Chloe thought with a hint of bitterness, _She can be friends with other girls but not me. She's not willing to give me a chance, but complete strangers are okay. What the fuck, Caulfield?_

"Ready?" Brooke asked as she stood in the center area which the track ran around, whistle perched just on the tip of her lips as she looked to each girl for a nod or other sign that they were prepared.

* * *

The whistle sounded and all six girls parted into their two groups of three as the first jam of the scrimmage started. The sound of their skates hitting and gliding along the wooden track echoed in the old industrial space as Victoria took the lead with Chloe and Rachel flanking her with the other three girls behind. Max knew that Taylor and Kate paired up usually, so she signaled to them with a gesture from the hand behind her back that they tighten up into a small triangle formation. Max thought that Victoria seemed a little too lax, but it was Chloe that Max was really fixated on and she smiled wolfishly when the bluenette looked over her shoulder and grinned at Max before she suddenly braked and took a knee. Watching in what felt to Max like slow motion, Max saw Chloe's arm extend outward and before she could dodge or counter the move Max impacted against the tattooed arm. Max felt herself flip over from the impact and right before she landed she was able to spread her body weight out enough that hitting the track was nowhere near as bad as it could have been. Scrambling to her feet after having the wind knocked out of her, Max watched as the five girls rounded the second turn and gritted her teeth in spite of the mouthguard. _I should have seen that coming, I should have_ known _that Chloe would go for the first move_ , Max thought as she silently cursed herself for thinking this scrimmage would be easy. Getting onto the team was one thing, but Chloe was now the only thing Max could focus on. Speeding back onto the track, Max caught the smirk on Brooke's face and flipped her off before she locked onto Chloe with an aggressive stare that she saw Rachel catch. Seeing Rachel say something to Chloe, Max picked up speed as Chloe looked behind her and began to skate faster against Victoria's earnest objections.

Chloe looked over her shoulder and saw the cringe-worthy stare aimed right at her by Max and felt her pulse quicken. A mixture of dread and excitement flooded her system with adrenaline and she shot past Victoria, hearing "Goddamnit, Price!" before she looked over her shoulder again and widened her eyes at how much closer Max was, having weaved through her own teammates to zig-zag behind Rachel. Chloe could hear Rachel shouting at Max, figured her friend was trying to calm the little brunette down, but Chloe had seen that look on Max's face and knew that this was going to come down to a fight on the track. _If you can't take a hit, then get off the track, Caulfield,_ Chloe thought before she remembered how she'd gone about clotheslining her former best friend, _I pulled a dirty move when she probably intended to play fair. Ugh, I'm so hella comfortable on the track_ _–_ _Everybody's so used to my shit that forgot who I was dealing with! Max has never jammed with you before, dumbass!_ Chloe felt the slight reverberation in the wood and looked behind her to see the Max had elbow-checked both Rachel and Victoria with Kate and Taylor stopping to treat Rachel's bleeding nose and Victoria's wounded pride as Max bared her teeth and came after Chloe.

"Max, stop!" Chloe yelled over her shoulder, "Dude, you're flipping out!"

"You think pulling a shitty trick like you did is just _okay,_ Chloe? I ask you here to try and start making amends and you play dirty? Fuck you!" Chloe heard Max snap back and she kicked her skating into a higher gear, pushing herself off when she realized by the sound of Max's voice how close the other girl was. Looking over across the track, Chloe could see the other girls clearing the way as they likely all came to the conclusion that this was a grudge match and not a scrimmage anymore.

"Max!" Chloe spun around so that she was skating backwards. It cost her some speed, but at least she could talk to Max and see the other girl's face. The feral look on Max's face, however, made her wish she hadn't. Slowing down further, Chloe came to a stop and brought her hands up, "Dude, it was a crap stunt and I'm-"

Max hammered Chloe with a spear, both of them going down hard on the track with Chloe crying out more from shock than pain as they impacted. She'd instinctively tucked Max's head into her arm so as to protect the brunette from the severity of how hard her head would have hit the wooden flooring. The cannery was quiet as both girls laid on the track for a moment in silence.

Then Max climbed on top of Chloe and grabbed her by the collar.

"That wasn't cool, Chloe!" Max shouted angrily, her face inches from Chloe's, "You…You nearly knocked me out with that clothesline, motherfucker!"

"And what the hell do you call what you just did?!" Chloe shot back, swatting Max's hands away as she shoved the smaller girl off of her, "You think it's okay to _fucking spear_ someone who came to a stop to hella _talk sense into you_? You knocked Victoria on her ass, sure, but it looks like you nearly broke Rachel's nose. What's wrong with you-?"

"Y-You…," Max stammered out, her anger mixing with her grief as the look on Chloe's face echoed her own from five years ago, "You said… You were so terrible to me that day, the things you said…"

"Max…," Chloe said as Kate skated up and helped Max to her feet with Taylor doing the same for Chloe until Max shoved her back down, "Goddamnit, Caulfield! I've been trying to apologize-"

"I _know_ , okay? God, Chloe, do you think I want to feel like this? All I've wanted for five years is to have you back," Max said, the regret in her voice causing both her and Chloe to frown as their eyes met, "I won't be a shit to you anymore Chloe, but you broke my heart and it never healed right. You think I wanted to leave? Chloe, I was feeling more than friendship for you that day and it all went to shit!"

"W-What?"

"I-I… Never mind. I'm sorry I even suggested this," Max said as she skated quickly to the guardrail, hopped over, and made a bee line for her equipment. Coming out with her things stuffed into her camera bag before anyone could stop her, Max skated hurriedly right out the door and left a horrified Chloe Price sitting on her bruised ass.

 _Shit_ , Chloe thought as she watched Max skate through the cannery and back into the locker room area, _How much can a person fuck up before they realize what they've really done? "More than friendship"? Shit, Max! Just…_

 _Shit._

 **Author's Notes -**

 **Not really much to say. My life is still shit, but I'm still uploading. Granted, this is from a queue of material I've already had done for a little bit, but at least I'm putting it out there. I figure I'll alternate on what I post weekly. At least, until every open story I have is done. After that, well, I'll be in and out, my focus on grad school and the What If? comic up on Tumblr. I won't disappear, but I'm having way too much fun with the comic to try and multitask multiple stories, school, AND a webcomic.**

 **Thanks for reading, and I'll see you all later! Next week is Press Play!**

 **Stay Hella, Cinnamon Rolls! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**"Now" by Paramore**

The late evening sky called to Max as she screamed her lungs out in the direction of the lighthouse that was set on the hilltop overlooking Arcadia Bay, emotionally and mentally raw after her most recent encounter with Chloe Price. Tears running down her face as she fought against her myriad of feelings, Max's guttural roars faded into hoarse breathing as she made her way over to a bench overlooking the town and flopped into it. For a brief moment earlier, there had been something akin to the old friendship Max had with Chloe from years ago that nearly put a smile on Max's face. That, however, was before Chloe had clothesline'd her and shit had gone downhill as a result of Max losing her temper in the most inconvenient way.. Now, sitting alone on the cliff overlooking Arcadia Bay, Max Caulfield wanted nothing more than to be alone. _I told Chloe that we're cool, but I don't_ feel _cool. I just…I don't know what I feel…_ Judging by the lack of messages on her phone as she checked the device again, Max surmised that no one wanted anything to do with her at the moment; that everyone at the cannery was happy with her wanting to be alone surprised Max not even a little. _I fucked up. Fucked up bad,_ Max thought as she hunched over in the bench.

"Is it bad I think this was all such a fucking mistake?" Max grumbled to herself as her voice came out cracked and raw from the screaming, blowing loose hair out of her face before she winced and gingerly rubbed at the back of her head. A helmet could only do so much against the hard _smack_ of skull on derby track, "I shouldn't have come back to Arcadia Bay. I could have found another photography program, something that wouldn't have dragged me back to the last place I figure I should be…"

"I hope you don't mean that," a familiar voice said and Max shifted in the bench to look over behind where she was sitting to see Rachel Amber walking over to her, "I really hope you don't mean that, Maxie."

Rachel's face had been roughly cleaned up, small specks of dried blood still visible under her nose and on her chin. Max remembered with a sharp clarity how her elbow had connected with the other girl's face and cringed at the recent memory. She hadn't meant to hit Rachel, or Victoria; the action had been yet another example of Max's passive-aggressive tendencies boiling over into straight-up aggression. Patting the spot next to her on the bench, Max gave her friend the best apologetic smile she had and hoped that it would be enough to appease Rachel's easily discernible hurt feelings.

"…What if I do, Rach?" Max asked, clenching and unclenching her fists as she looked at them before wilting at the sight of a bloodied Rachel, "God, I'm so sorry about your nose. A-Are you okay-?"

"I'll be fine. I've had worse, though it's definitely a first for getting a bloody nose at a damn scrimmage," Rachel said with a roll of her eyes before she sidled over in the bench to bump her shoulder affectionately against Max's. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Max, what the fuck was that back there? You were fucking psychotic on the track today," Rachel asked, concern lining her face as she reached over to tuck some hair behind Max's ear, "My li'l hippie turned savage on me."

"I _am_ sorry about that," Max replied with a sigh, "What the hell was Chloe-?"

"No. Not Chloe, Max. _You._ What _was_ that, back on the track?"

Max sighed and ran a hand through her messy brunette hair, gently combing her fingers through the chestnut strands as she looked out to the horizon in thought. Where _had_ that rage come from? Max knew that she was upset with Chloe, that she had initially wanted nothing to do with the other girl when she had returned to Arcadia Bay. _Talking to her, remembering all the good times we had, and then seeing her and being reminded of what I had wanted before she took a verbal shit on my feelings. It all bubbled up, I guess._

"Chloe… She didn't bring out the best in me. I-I just felt this rage when I saw her, Rach, but it wasn't a hateful rage. I swear to Dog. It was just this bubbling well of white-hot, um, I dunno. It was just…intense. How's that?"

"That'll have to do for now, I think both our minds are fried," Rachel said, hand on Max's shoulder, "Victoria gave me a ride here, that's how worried we both were about you. We scoured the town, didn't see your Vespa until the last second. Can't believe you actually hid it behind a tree. Were you that desperate to be alone?"

"Yeah. I was. _Was,_ " Max said as she slumped in the bench, smiling over at Rachel as she squeezed the other girl's hand, "Sorry I nearly broke your nose."

"Apology accepted, though you might want to stop at Victoria's room the second we get back to the dorm so you can apologize to her, too. She was freaking, seeing the way you were acting," Rachel said, an awkward smile on her face that was mirrored by Max when she thought of the look on Victoria's face right before she'd skated clear out of the cannery.

"…Am I still on the team?" Max asked hesitantly, eyes averted as she didn't want to see what Rachel's reaction would be. Max knew that it was insensitive to ask, but she also really wanted to know.

"Yeah, but it's probationary or whatever. If you pull shit like today again, you're out and we won't let you try again. Max, you need to give Chloe a genuine shot and not a chance to just fucking throw down. It's not like she pulled that clothesline specifically to fuck with you. She's just rough on the track, _like you_. God, it's no wonder you two were besties – you act so fucking alike it's scary."

"You think she'll want to talk to me after everything from today? Seeing me get my rage on?" Max asked, a smirk of disbelief on her face, "Wowser, I know how I acted and _I_ wouldn't talk to me if I had the option."

"You didn't see her after you took off," Rachel said as she fished a cigarette out of a crumpled back she produced from her flannel shirt. Lighting up, Rachel soaked her lungs with the nicotine smoke before letting it out her nose, "She was tripping hard. Whatever you said to her before you bailed left her a mess, I thought she was going to pull her hair out of her head."

With the sun beginning to set, yellow-orange light reflecting off the rippling waterfront, Max pulled out her phone and looked inquisitively at Rachel. _I…I've been a complete shit to Chloe. We need to have a face-to-face, whether it ends for better or for worse. A face to face that doesn't involve a full-contact sport._ Max watched Rachel jerk her chin in the direction of Max's phone before she lit a cigarette; Max, in turn, got up and walked around the hilltop as she began to type with a fervor into the messaging app that was opened up.

* * *

The room was dimly lit by the partly closed blinds allowing rays of yellow-orange light to play off the closet door of Chloe's room as she crashed onto her bed and turned around so that she was lying on her back. Music off, the only noise she could hear was her own breathing and the shuffling of feet downstairs as she reached back and pulled a pillow over to rest underneath her head. _Fucking Max Caulfield,_ Chloe thought with a frown as she attempted to match the little tween she had been best friends with and the girl who looked as though she might beat her to death, _Do I actually_ want _that much fucking drama? God, I know I was an ass but she was a straight-up psycho-_

Chloe halted mid-thought as her phone buzzed in her back pocket; pulling out the worn smartphone, Chloe sighed when she saw that a message from Max popped up.

 **MAX: I'm sorry, Chloe. Really.**

 **CHLOE: I don't know if I actually want to talk to you right now, Mad Max. Emphasis on "Mad"**

 **MAX: :'(**

 **CHLOE: NO EMOJI**

 **CHLOE: How do you expect me to react, dude?**

 **MAX: Give me another shot?**

 **CHLOE: Max, what did you mean by… No, no I know what you meant. I just couldn't fucking believe my ears.**

 **CHLOE: Why didn't you tell me back then? Why didn't you let me know?**

 **MAX: I didn't get a chance to, remember?**

 **CHLOE: Oh. Uh, yeah. Still, five years is a long time. You could've reached out, too. I felt like an ass for so long, you don't even know.**

 **MAX: I was pretty shut down. Didn't really care all that much about anything for a while. When I got into derby, it was an outlet that gave me a shot at letting everything hang out. I worked out what happened through getting my ass handed to me and handing people their own asses.**

 **MAX: It gradually turned into me handing ass more than getting my own kicked, heh.**

 **CHLOE: lol, same.**

 **CHLOE: Switzerland?**

 **MAX: Eh?**

 **CHLOE: 2 whales. Give me 20 minutes. Mom will feed you.**

 **MAX: Roger roger.**

Looking out of her bedroom window to see the last vestiges of sunlight trickle away in a slow burn of red-orange light, Chloe groaned as she sat up and put a hand to her side. _Still can't believe the little nerd speared me,_ Chloe thought, walking over to her mirror. Pulling up her shirt, Chloe winced at the purple bruise where Max had made contact with her elbow, _Jesus fuck, man, she hits like a small truck. Because she's small. Pipsqueak has some bite._ Changing into a somewhat fresh t-shirt and jean shorts, Chloe laced up her Chuck Taylors and grabbed her skateboard. The breeze that was trickling through the cracked window she left open was nice and it didn't feel like a truck kind of night to Chloe. Taking the stairs two at a time, Chloe saw her mom getting ready for work and gave her a two-fingered salute.

"Where you off to now?" Joyce asked, hand on her hip as she shook her head, "You come back wincing and sporting a nasty bump on the back of your head and now your headin' out the door. What's got my daughter in the unusual position of rushing?"

"Gonna work on a peace treaty with Max," Chloe said with a smirk as she grabbed her helmet and pads, fingerless gloves slipping on like a second skin, "Hopefully, it'll go better than last time."

"I hope so," Joyce said as she grabbed her keys from a dish in the kitchen, "You taking off now?"

"In a minute. Thought I might get something to drink real quick."

"Well, I'm headed out so lock up behind you. David's at work and you're the last one out," Joyce said, squeezing Chloe's shoulder affectionately as she gave her daughter a motherly smile and headed out the front door.

Waiting until she heard Joyce's car pull out of the driveway and onto the street, Chloe walked into David's man-cave and snatched a beer from the cooler that he kept hidden inside one of the cabinets. _Step-douche's got quality taste in suds, too. Cheers, asshole,_ Chloe thought to herself as she smiled and cracked the can of beer open before chugging it down in only a few gulps. Burping loudly and snickering at her own foul exhalation, she walked outside and tossed the empty can into the garbage before heading through the front door with skateboard tucked under her shoulder. Locking up behind her, not because Joyce told her but because she felt like it, Chloe dropped her board onto the sidewalk and skated down the street as she slipped in an earbud while Heavens to Betsy screamed in her ear.

Chloe loved skating the streets just as it got dark, the orange streetlights kicking on slowly like artificial mornings as she did an ollie and a tre flip. Remembering the look on Trevor's face when Justin had regaled her with the tale of Trevor attempting the move to try and impress Dana, it was only then that Chloe registered that Justin had mentioned Max being the other girl accompanying Dana. _That's right. Justin said that Max took a picture of Trevor's epic fail. Oh man, I've hella got to see that pic. I wonder if Dana is pity-dating Trevor since he clearly lost his balls when the board went straight for his crotch._ Laughing to herself a little, Chloe turned off of the street her family's house was on and onto a side road that led to the main strip that Two Whales was on.

The smell of ocean and wet sand with the distant scent of fried food called to Chloe as she picked up speed with her last turn, moving onto the sidewalk to avoid the occasional car or truck that shot down the street. The diner just ahead, Chloe smirked when she saw a Vespa leaning against the front of the diner and waved awkwardly to Max when she slowed the board down to a crawl before stopping altogether just on the opposite side of the window the brunette was watching her from. _Hella unto the breach_ , Chloe thought with a sigh as she tucked her board between the diner's façade and Max's Vespa before going inside. The diner was in the midst of its peak dinner crowd, though you wouldn't know it by the smattering of customers in various stools and booths throughout the small restaurant. Business didn't flow at Two Whales so much as just constantly move at a steady pace. Seeing Max etching something into the booth table she was occupying, Chloe smirked and sauntered over only to flash Max a nervous smile when the other girl's head snapped up with wide eyes giving Chloe a once-over.

"Hey," Chloe said, sliding into the bench seat opposite Max as she looked at the girl's handiwork, "Adding your own little mark, eh? No rest for the wicked, even if it's pint-sized wicked."

* * *

Max looked up from her little etching, having used a small pocket knife to scratch a Polaroid camera next to the nerdy math graffiti, and put the knife into the pocket of her hoodie as she pulled the hood itself back and shook her hair out a little when she looked outside to see Chloe just watching her. Examining the bluenette outside, Max peered through the glass to see that Chloe had arrived by skateboard rather than the truck she'd seen earlier. Smirking a little at the awkward wave Chloe gave her, Max flicked the knife back out and did some detail work on the camera etching before she finished just as Chloe sauntered up with a smile on her face. Giving Chloe a once-over, Max motioned for the other girl to sit and snorted at her remark about "pint-sized wicked". _Always with the short jokes, Chloe. That's…kinda endearing, I guess, that her sense of humor isn't that much different…_

"Look at us," Chloe interjected, drawing Max out of her thoughts as she spoke, "Two ladies out on the town."

"You're such a dork," Max said in amusement, the faintest trace of a smile on her lips as she eyed Chloe knowingly, "Behold, Chloe. We have no chaperone."

"This is madness!"

"This…is…Two Whales!"

Max chuckled a bit while Chloe just watched her and when Joyce arrived with two sodas and a menu, she ordered a basket of fries while Chloe went for a cheeseburger. Sipping at her soda absently, Max nibbled on the straw as the silence between them hovered somewhere between peaceful and awkward. Neither girl seemed to really know where to begin. _We threw so much of our individual baggage out there already. This isn't the part where we "kiss and make up", though. That… That will take time._

"Chloe…," Max started to say, "I, uh, I'm glad that we're actually sitting down together.

 _Smooth, Max. Might as well have complimented her on her excellent breathing skills. Ugh,_ Max thought as she cringed at a grinning Chloe's cocked eyebrow.

"Verbal face-plant?" Max asked, hanging her head a little as she looked up from underneath her bangs.

"Kinda, yeah," Chloe answered, "I _am_ glad that we're sitting down to talk, though. It's… We should never have… I was… Ugh, this is all hella tough as fuck."

"So, Max, how long have you been in roller derby?" Chloe asked, stealing a French fry when their food had arrived, Joyce's smiling face and their hot noms thankfully breaking the silence. "You're only 18 so I'm guessing-"

"About three years," Max answered nonchalantly, popping a ketchup-laden fry into her mouth as she enjoyed the crispness of the treat, "My parents had to sign a waiver, which took a _lot_ of convincing, but I've been at it since I was 15."

"Holy shit, dude. _I_ didn't get into it until I was 16," Chloe said, slapping her hand on the table, "We totally got into it at the same time."

"Yeah, I guess," Max replied, looking out the window from mild boredom before returning her attention to Chloe, "You watched my jams online, right? You've seen me in action first-hand."

"My side has the bruise to prove it, and my head is nice and lumpy," Chloe answered.

"Your head was already lumpy. I just added some of my own."

"Ouch. Damn, girl."

"You… Chloe, _why_ did you say what you said? Of all the-" Max started, eyes narrowing when Chloe held up a hand to silence her.

"I…I took out all my rage and pain on my best friend. My dad was dead, you were bailing-"

"I didn't _want_ that. You know I didn't."

"…I know, Max, but think about how I was at the time. Fuck, think about what was going down around us. We were at my dad's funeral and you were leaving the same week."

"That _doesn't_ make it right, Chloe," Max interjected, Chloe biting her lip when it dawned on her that she sounded like she was trying to make up an excuse.

"No. No, it doesn't. I fucked up and left you running away in tears. You ran off crying while I stayed in my house and cried. God, I regretted saying what I did the second I saw your face but my brain just locked up," Chloe said, wiping a tear from her eye as she glanced over to see Max's features softening a little as the brunette relaxed, "I didn't think you'd want to hear from me, so I gave you space. That space turned into years because after a while I couldn't think of anything to say. 'Hey, Max. Remember me? The BFF who totally broke your heart? How are you?' Yeah, that wouldn't fly at all."

Chloe snatched her cheeseburger up and cut it in half with a butter knife, handing over one of the halves to Max. Taking it after a moment's hesitation, Max in turn gave Chloe half of her remaining fries and the girls munched on their impromptu meal in silence. Eating noises and slurps of soda were all that emanated from the booth for a time, not noisy but ambient along with the clink of silverware on plates and the sizzle of the griddle behind the counter. As the sky turned entirely dark save for starlight, Chloe found herself craving a nicotine fix.

"Imma go smoke," Chloe said as she stacked her basket on top of Max's, both girls done with their food, "Wanna join?"

"I-I don't smoke. At least, not cigarettes," Max said, eyes shifty as Chloe watched her look around before flashing a bag of thinly-rolled joints before putting the bag away, "Medicinal marijuana. Depression and anxiety."

"Ooh, Max as a fellow stoner. Alert the media."

"Oh, eat a dick."

"Not really my taste," Chloe retorted, waggling her eyebrows to the snicker of Max as she rolled her eyes, "Aww, c'mon. You can't tell me you're still a virgin."

"We're not having this conversation," Max said as she slid out of the booth, "We're… You and I are okay, Chloe, but we're not good. Not good enough for _that_ talk anyway."

"But we shared food and everything! I thought, I dunno, I guess I hella _hoped_ that we might be cool after this. Maybe even friends again."

"Well, I won't fucking go for your head on the track if we're ever thrown against each other. Friendship… That'll take time," Max said as she checked her phone, "Okay, one smoke. Then I gotta head back to school. Curfew an' all, plus my homework will kill my brain if I try to cram."

"Little Shop of Homework," Chloe said with a snort as she watched Max set a $10 on the table, "Feed me, Max! Feed me _all night long_!"

Chloe led Max out of the diner, taking the brunette's hand as they headed out the door and to the front of the diner. Max walking her Vespa, Chloe with her skateboard tucked under her arm, the girls lit up their respective smokes and walked down the sidewalk as they talked derby. Chloe smiled and patted Max on the back at finding out that the brunette had made it onto the Bombshells' roster. Chloe told Max about how the Bombshells came together. It meant a lot to Chloe that Max was going to be part of a team that she had helped put together; Chloe helping Victoria, Kate, Taylor, and Courtney get everything together in the old cannery building. With Victoria's family having a degree of wealth, it had been easy for Victoria to get the funds. Putting everything together had been the challenge. Rachel came on when everything arrived, all the girls putting their nights on hold as they spent evening after evening assembling the track and positioning the old bleachers just right. Setting up the merchandise area, _designing_ the merchandise, had been Chloe's baby. With her passion for art and illustration, evident by her sleeve tattoo, designing posters for the girls using her beaten-up Bamboo tablet and pirated Photoshop became a passion project.

"So you really designed all the graphics and posters?" Max asked, snuffing out her joint on the sole of her sneakers as they reached the intersection where they parted ways.

"Oh hell yes, that glorious artistry is _all mine_ ," Chloe said, puffing out her chest a little, "Why? You want me to make you one, right? C'mon, Max. Give in to the Chloe. I have pot brownies and art."

"…Ugh, I planned on asking earlier," Max said, caving to the delight of her blue-haired companion as she abruptly found herself in a hug, "Oh. Okay, Chloe. Um, take things slow."

"Oh. Sure," Chloe said as she pulled away. _"_ How 'bout our old special handshake?"

One palm-slap and fist-bump combo later and the girls were on their respective ways, Chloe skating back to the suburban area as Max glanced over her shoulder to watch the bluenette zip away before speeding off in her Vespa. _One step at a time, Chloe. I'm talking to you again, at least. We're okay. You want us to be good…or even more…well, that's gonna take time. Maybe._ Max bit her lip at the way Chloe had fit so snugly in her skate wear at the tryout. _Why'd you have to be so damn hot? Ughhhhhh!_

* * *

"Sooooo, how'd it _go_?" Rachel asked as she brushed her teeth in the girls' shower room with Max combing her hair at the next sink. Splashing her face before running a comb through her hair one final time, Max looked over at Rachel as she patted her face dry, "Awww, c'mon, Max! Deets! Tell your best bud over a bud?"

"You know my stuff _is_ medicinal, right?" Max asked with a roll of her eyes before both girls got quiet as Alyssa came in to use the shower. Leaning in close to Rachel, Max scowled. "Fine, but bring your own. Roof. Five minutes."

Seeing a nod from Rachel, Max gathered her toiletries together into their case and headed out of the shower room. Barefoot in nothing but boyshorts and a tank-top bearing her old Seattle derby t-shirt, Max tied her hair up into a ponytail but kept the bangs down as she nearly made it to her door before Victoria stopped her at the door to Max's room. _Four and a half minutes,_ Max thought as she saw Rachel watch her and Victoria before pointing to an imaginary watch on her wrist as she headed into her own room. _I'll be lucky if I have enough time to get dressed. Show up on the roof in a hoodie and panties. Wait. Rachel would like that,_ Max thought as she bit her lip with a small grin on her face before Victoria leaned in close and took Max by surprise.

"Max? Helloooo, Earth to Max? You in there?" Victoria asked, already dressed in a pair of designer jean shorts and a spaghetti-strapped black top, "Did you not hear a word I said? Rachel Amber on the brain? I thought you two weren't a thing anymore…"

"It's kinda hard to _not_ think about her when she's always so damn flirty," Max argued, slumping her shoulders as she looked at Victoria with a weary smile, "What's up, Tori? You're greeting me in school. What _will_ the student body say?"

"Chill, you," Victoria said with a begrudging smile as she poked Max in the chest, "Look. You're on the team now, so we don't have to hide being friends on-campus anymore."

"We didn't have to _in the first place_ ," Max argued.

"I…I have a rep to maintain."

"Uh-huh. Y'know, I do as well and you're killing my shy geek vibe."

"Save that shit for the classroom and your social anxiety, Max," Victoria said as she draped an arm over Max's shoulder and led the brunette into her room to hand her a jersey tank-top bearing Max's last name stenciled on the back with the Bombshells' design on the front. Gold illustration on a maroon shirt, "Try it on."

"I-I'll try it on…in my room. Without an audience," Max said as she waved an arm at Kate, Taylor, Dana, and Courtney all sitting throughout Victoria's room in various places.

"Aww," Dana said, a grin on her face, mirrored by everyone, "You're such a cutie, Maxie. No wonder Rachel likes you so much."

"Uh-huh," Max said flatly, hand on her hip, "This an initiation or gossip session?"

"Why can't it be both?" Courtney asked, a grin on her face.

" _Ugh,_ " Max said, rolling her eyes, "Taylor, give my mom your best today. The rest of you, I'll see you tonight at the match. Bay City College won't know what hit 'em."

"Yeahhhh, about that…," Victoria said as she closed the door to her dorm room.

"Rachel," Max said as she stormed through the roof door to find Rachel already baking on a thick blunt, " _Why in the legitimate fuck didn't you tell me that Chloe skates for the Bay City Dropouts?_ "

"Mmm?" Rachel mouthed, blowing pot smoke out in Max's direction with a lazy smile that faded under the intense scrutiny of one Maxine Caulfield, "Shit. You're pissed, aren't you?"

"I'm pissed. Yes. Wowser, glad to see you can get that," Max said, arms crossed as she began to pace, "God, what the fuck? Why didn't you… Why didn't _she_ tell me? Did you two plan this? Did the whole team plan this?"

"Maxie, I swear no one was trying to pull anything on you. Promise," Rachel said as she sat up where she was sunbathing and taking up to try and pull Max down to lie next to her. Failing when Max stepped just out of reach, holding her arm anxiously as she looked away from Rachel with a scowl on her face, Rachel sighed and pulled her flannel shirt on over her bikini-clad torso, "Goddamn, you're so sensitive."

"How would you expect me to react in finding out that the very girl you're trying to get me to reconcile with is also playing for another derby team? A situation where I like to cut loose and vent is suddenly set up to be a fucking shitstorm because there could be a repeat of yesterday if I get too worked up-," Max said, cutting herself off when Rachel started to walk off, "Hey!"

"Max, I'm a Leo. We don't look back. I'm _trying_ so hard with you and Chloe, but if this little thing is going to just blow up everything you two are trying to rebuild then I fucking give up," Rachel said as she held the door open for Max, "C'mon. We've got classes soon and the match with Bay City tonight. Push Chloe mentally off to the side and get dressed. You're still in your sleepwear."

The rest of the day was a panicked blur to Max, spending every break between class smoking up on a single joint that she stretched out to last the school day. With lunch consisting of an apple and a protein bar with some coffee, Max watched the other girls get their carbs with the spaghetti that was on the menu for lunch. Picking at a bran muffin she had pilfered from the dessert bar, Max wolfed it down when her stomach reminded her that she had skipped breakfast. _I can't even remember whatever was said or assigned in class today. Too much going on…too much to think…can't think…_

"Max!" Max heard someone shout as she felt her eyes roll into the back of her head before she passed out at the lunch table with Rachel grabbing her before she could fall to the linoleum floor of the cafeteria.

* * *

Chloe checked herself out in the get-up she had assembled as "Blue Light Special" for the Dropouts. Chloe thought the name was ironic considering she had dropped out of Blackwell only to get her GED and start college at Bay City within the span of a few months. _I could've just taken the test right off the bat,_ Chloe thought as she tossed one outfit into what she referred to as the discard pile. Clad in only her bikini top, fire-patterned boyshorts, and a set of fishnet over-knee stockings, Chloe checked herself out in the mirror and admired the hint of a six-pack she had maintained over the years of skating. Patting her toned abdomen, Chloe looked at the rest of her clothing options and selected a white anarchy tank-top. Grabbing a blue Wal-Mart vest, Chloe used her black Sharpie marker to cross out the smiley face's eyes on the back of the vest and applied some homemade fake blood. Pulling the vest on, Chloe finished it off with some fingerless biker gloves and jean shorts that were cut off to her upper thigh. Slipping on her pads and the blue glow-in-the-dark helmet that highlighted her ensemble, Chloe grinned and mouthed _Booyah_ to herself before stripping off the vest, pads, helmet, and gloves. Walking downstairs, Chloe headed into the kitchen and snickered when she saw Joyce sigh at the sight of her. Her stepfather, however, took one look at her and scowled which got an equally irritated scowl aimed right back at him.

"Dude, you don't even get to look at me like that," Chloe said at the look of disdain on David's face, "I go to school, work the odd shift here and there at Two Whales, and stay out of trouble. Besides, Derby is hella cool and a good workout. See?"

Chloe flashed her toned abs in David's direction and snickered when he looked away, the faint beer belly giving away which of the two of them was fitter. Chloe knew that he served in the military, he threw the combat veteran status around whenever they argued. She also knew that of the two of them she would be more likely to actually get into the military now than her stepfather would and didn't hesitate to remind him. _Your idea of a sixer and mine are two different things, step-prick,_ Chloe thought as she pulled out some eggs, bread, and cheese, _One egg and cheese sammich coming up._ Whipping the eggs before she poured them into the skillet, Chloe groaned when her phone went off and she saw a message from Rachel.

"Mom, I…I gotta take this," Chloe said after seeing the title of the message read "MAX!", "Please, would you…?"

"Don't worry, Chloe," Joyce said with an exasperated grin, "I never have a problem cookin' for my daughter. Now, whether or not you actually get to eat this…"

" _Mom_!" Chloe groaned at Joyce's teasing before tapping her phone's screen to open up the message. _What the fuck happened now?_

 **RACHEL: MAX!**

 **CHLOE: Yeah? What 'bout her? She hate me once more?**

 **RACHEL: STFU and listen, dumbass.**

 **RACHEL: The match tonight? Chloe, did you forget to tell her that you're in the Dropouts?**

 **CHLOE: Um, slipped my mind. Why?**

 **RACHEL: She's freaked. She's worried about a repeat of yesterday. Chloe, you have to go easy on Max tonight. You HAVE to!**

 **CHLOE: I don't have to do shit! It's derby. I need to vent, too!**

 **RACHEL: At the cost of potentially losing Max for good? We both know that you two are bloodthirsty on the track… I don't want my two best buds hating each other. I'll…I'll walk away from both of you, I swear I will.**

 **CHLOE: Whoa whoa! Let's just chill out on that, okay? Look, if it means that I get closer with Max…I'll go easy if we jam against each other. Okay? Don't ask me to throw the damn game, though. We're gonna fucking own you ladies.**

 **RACHEL: t(-.-t)**

Rolling her eyes at the use of emoji, though she did appreciate Rachel's cleverness, Chloe switched her phone off and returned her attention to the kitchen only to find an egg and cheese sandwich on toasted bread waiting for her along with a glass of water. Wolfing down the sandwich, picking at the crumbs on the plate while David sat across from her at the table with a book titled "The Soldier's Guide To Insanity", Chloe chugged the water and headed back upstairs only to return a moment later with her outfit. The match was soon and she wanted to be at the cannery early.

"Don't wait up!" Chloe called out from the front door, Joyce poking her head out from the kitchen.

"Just don't come back in the shape you were in yesterday, hun. A mother worries, you know," Joyce said, lips thinned in a grimace.

"No promises," Chloe said, winking when David craned his head to get amusement out of his irritation, "Later!"

Driving her truck to the cannery, Chloe smiled when she saw a Vespa scooter chained up to a light pole near the entrance used by the girls that led straight to their locker room area. Using her own key, Chloe unlocked the door and walked in. The hallway was narrow with chipped paint on the cinderblock walls, the air rich with the smell of antiseptic and IcyHot. Turning into the open door along the left side of the wall, Chloe found Max lacing up her skates while she was already in her "SuperMax" attire.

"Prison break?" Chloe asked, a grin on her face that was met with an awkward smile from Max before the brunette stifled a giggle at the punk's outfit.

"I dunno about that. Could you get an ex-con like me a job at Wally World? Looks like you could give me an inside edge," Max retorted, laughing when Chloe spun in a lazy circle to show off her gear, "So, here we are again. Mano a Mano or whatever."

Chloe smiled and sat down on the bench next to Max, bumping the smaller girl's shoulder with her own and sighing internally in relief when Max returned the bump. It was a small gesture, a simple one, but the fact that the venom seemed to be out of Max for the moment alleviated some of the tension between them. _We'll get there, Max. You and me, we'll get that back._

* * *

"Everybody in the Cannery give it up!" Brooke Scott called up from the makeshift announcement booth that was just an area of bleachers that was cordoned off by chain-link fence and fake barbed wire, "Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, we have the dubious honor of our own Blackwell Bombshells taking on the kinda-sorta local Bay City College Dropouts! When I say kinda-sorta, I say it because they have so many annexes you never know where they are. It's a thing."

Max took in a deep breath as she leaned against the wall and watched the crowd cheer as Brooke led them on with snappy one-liners and jokes. She had to focus, had to concentrate. _This is just another derby match, right? Nothing special about this one at all,_ Max thought as she pumped herself up for the match. Every girl in the team was wearing their own uniform as Max took a look at her teammates. Rachel looked like a punk rock Rosie The Riveter while Taylor and Kate were wearing their matching outfits with "Twisted Sisters" stenciled on the backs of their tops. For Victoria, it was an all-white jumpsuit that ended with hot pants. Max figured Victoria chose the worst color on purpose to show off the numerous bloodstains that hadn't washed out. Courtney trailed behind all of them with the playbook, her mood a little despondent as she had to watch. Dana finished up the group as the coach and their sole substitute player. Being a private school with little willing participants, the Bombshells were forced to run each match with every player to near the point of exhaustion. Max wouldn't be in the first jam, but she knew she would be in the second.

"Max, are you okay?" Courtney asked, handing Max a new mouthguard before smiling when Max grinned to show off her well-worn guard.

"It's SuperMax right now," Max said as she punched her fists together a couple of times, "Why am I nervous? Am I nervous? Tori, why am I nervous?"

"Because Chloe's on the other team," Victoria said with no small amount of irritation, "She's gonna pay for switching sides."

"She got kicked out by _you_ , Victoria," Rachel said, adjusting the red bandana underneath her helmet before she was called out onto the track, "C'mon, ladies! Water's motherfuckin' _fine_!"

"…And, from Seattle, Arcadia Bay's latest 'Catch of the Day'! Give it up for the Seattle Rookie of the year, Blackwell's own SuperMax!" Brooke called out as Max opted to go last, "Picked in the tryouts only yesterday, the time has come to see if the right choice was made!"

"Hey!" Max shouted as she braked her skates on the track opposite the announcer's area, finger jabbed in Brooke's direction, "Don't give me shit because your ass can't find Waldo!"

Taking off before she could hear the off-mic reply, Max zipped around the track in a backwards lap that had the crowd eating it up. She loved this, missed it like crazy. Here, on a derby track, she wasn't shy Max Caulfield. She was whoever and sometimes _what_ ever she wanted to be. _I can be nice, or I can be a bitch. I can cut loose, let out all the passive-aggressive bullshit. Sometimes…Sometimes I just wanna scream or howl, I feel so good on the track!_ Max slowed down and spun around to meet up with the rest of her team at their bench in the middle space encircled by the track. Just as Max took her seat, Chloe came out like a bullet from the locker room area with her team. Max didn't pay attention to Brooke's announcing job as the Dropouts did a lap around the track; her eyes were fixated on Chloe just as Chloe's were on her. There was something about the way Chloe was looking at her that had Max wondering just what the bluenette was up to. _Is she sizing me up? What the hell is she doing?_

 _Oh, fuck,_ Chloe thought as she finished her lap and finally pulled her attention away from Max, _She's hot. Max is hot. I'm…I'm crushing on Max. Goddamnit._ _Now? Of_ all _the times?_ Chloe was only brought out of her thoughts by the thump of someone smacking her helmet.

"Price!" Chloe's team captain called out, the punk not bothering to remember anybody's name, "You in there?"

"Yeah, I'm here! Time to hella get our freak on!" Chloe crowed as the other girls on her team ate up the enthusiasm. If Chloe was anything during derby matches, it was a font of energy and morale, "Let's crack some skulls! Except not _actually_ crack some skulls because, y'know, no one here can afford an actual hospital visit."

The teams watched each other across the small enclosed space, two sets of bleachers on opposite ends as the Bombshells and the Dropouts psyched their respective teammates up. Neither Max or Chloe was paying attention, however; the only thing they found themselves fixated on was each other.

 _I'm crushing on Max. Holy hella shit!_

 _Chloe…Chloe can't keep her eyes off of me. Am I blushing? Wowser._

 ** _Author's Note -_**

 ** _Not actually back from hiatus._**

 ** _Just been wrapping up this story in my spare time. Always planned Life is Derby to be four or five parts, and this installment has been sitting in my queue for a few weeks. Sooooo, here it is for your reading pleasure :)_**

 ** _Stay hella, Cinnamon Rolls!_**

 ** _PS - in case you don't follow me on Tumblr, my life has incurred something of a meteoric shift or two since we last saw one another here on FanFiction. Will leave it up to you to go see._**


	4. Chapter 4

**"Hello There" by Cheap Trick**

The cheering from the crowd could be felt through the cannery's floor and the skating track as Max sat on the edge of the Bombshells' bench with Dana, watching as the first jam unfolded. The Dropouts' jammer had just broken through the Bombshells' ranks and was starting to gain some ground before Victoria flew out of the gaggle of derby girls from both teams clustered together to try and close the distance between them. It would be a shit start to the match for Max if the away team struck first blood by winning the starting jam. Fingertips pressing into the wood of her seat until they were white, Max gritted her teeth and watched with rapt attention as Victoria zig-zagged behind the other jammer before managing to just scrape by and take off. With only seconds left on the clock for the first jam, Victoria had to catch up to the other girls and pass some of the Dropouts to score the Bombshells any points.

"C'mon, Tori! Get your head out of your ass and go, already!" Max shouted, hands cupping her mouth as she hollered at her teammate.

"Max, _dude_ , you need to chill some," Dana said, looking at Max from over her shoulder so fast she nearly smacked the freckled girl with her ponytail, "Seriously."

" _Seriously_ , it's a derby match. Not 'Skating Day at Arcadia Middle School'," Max snapped back, eyeing Dana before watching in mild relief as Victoria managed to pass two Dropouts just before the buzzer went off to signal for the next jam.

"Sorry Coach, but duty calls," Max said, giving Dana a two-fingered salute as she skated backwards towards the Bombshells on the track before spinning around to offer Victoria a high five, "Nice one, Tori!"

"Oh? So I got my head out of my ass?" Victoria inquired, eyebrow quirked up with a thin-lipped, unreadable expression on her face.

"Sorry," Max said, scratching at the nape of her neck as she stopped to keep talking to Victoria, "I, um, It's derby. Y'know?"

"I _do_ know, but save your smack talk for the other team. Besides, Chloe's not the lead jammer for this one and you're it for us," Victoria retorted, pulling a pink armband off before putting it on Max, "So now you can curb your nerd rage and show me what you _really_ got, Max."

"Yes, ma'am."

Adrenaline pumping, the smell of sweat and popcorn hanging in the air, Max gnawed at her mouthguard a little as she swooped up from from behind her teammates to clasp a hand on Rachel's shoulder. Smiling anxiously, Max cast a glance over her shoulder to see Chloe eyeballing her. _I am a leaf on the wind_ , Max thought as she remembered their sleepovers and sci-fi marathons, _Watch me as I soar..._ Flashing Chloe a predatory smile, Max turned her attention forward and readied herself for the next jam. The Bombshells _had_ a rule book, but the were known more for spontaneity and instinctive play rather than any fixed strategy. _The only good strategy is to just win!_ Max remembered Victoria telling her after a photography class at Blackwell. _We have plays, but for the most part we just wing it! It_ is _about having fun, y'know…_

 _Fun_ , Max thought, _and letting off some steam that is in need of release. Like, super-sized need._ The air horn sounded and the girls on the track were off for the second jam, Max squaring off against the Dropouts' team captain.

They were a dead-even match for one another in speed and agility, Max quickly realized, as they leap-frogged one another while weaving through the Bombshells and Dropouts. Expertly missing an attempted clothesline by one of the opposing team, Max thought she heard Chloe shout "Hey!" but chose decidedly to ignore it: she could not allow herself to be fixated on anything else but her opponent. The captain had the balance of a ballet dancer, the way she wound herself around the Bombshells without any of them even being able to come close to blocking her way seemed almost superhuman. Gritting her teeth into the mouthguard, Max growled a little and lurched forward as she kicked up her speed a notch.

"Pull _your_ head out of _your_ ass, Caulfield!" Max heard Victoria call after her, wincing at the previous barb being tossed back at herself. She had not meant to actually say the words – roller derby brought out the best and worst in Max and she knew it.

Shaking her head to refocus, Max's eyes widened as she saw the Dropouts captain begin to gain some distance between them and the freckled brunette kicked up even more speed as she came perilously close to slamming into the guardrail when she took a wide turn before sharply turning in to gain momentum. Cutting the distance between them into an arm's length, Max crouched down. Looking over to see the Dropouts and Bombshells on the opposite side of the track, Max took a fraction of a second to weight the risk of what was going through her head. Grimacing, Max pushed forward one more time to get within striking distance and swept her legs underneath the captain's, their skates connecting before they both came to a screeching halt of tangled limbs and future bruises.

"Bitch!" One of the Dropouts snapped from across the track as they and the Bombshells quickly began to gain on the fallen jammers.

"Woo! Go, Max!" Dana hollered, whistling as Max scrambled to her feet and planted a skate oh-so-accidentally into the Dropouts stomach as she did so.

"Fucking brat," the captain grunted as Max began to skate away.

"Less talky, more skate-y," Max shot back, looking over her shoulder to give the captain a bright, cheery smile before she looped the track. Deftly skating past one Dropout, Max avoided Chloe in thanks to Victoria and Kate slamming the bluenette against the guardrail. Max cringed at the look of pain on the tall girl's face, but ended the jam victoriously with an additional three points for the Bombshells.

A time-out called, the two teams huddled at their respective benches with glances and glares being shot between them, notably Max and Victoria with the team captain. Chloe eyed Max as well, but Max knew that there was more competitiveness in the looks they exchanged than animosity. At least, there was on Chloe's part. Max could not be so sure about herself; she was wounded and she knew it. Chloe had dumped her, sent her home in tears and adrift for five long years. _But she followed my progress in derby, kept an eye out for me online. Why the fuck couldn't you have sent me a friend request, or just an email that said you were sorry? Chloe, I would have listened if you so much as said 'Hey'. Stubborn-ass… No. No, you're not doing this right now. Derby. Focus on the match,_ Max thought before she felt a hand clamp onto her shoulder.

"Hey, you okay?" Taylor asked, eyes scrutinizing Max's faraway expression, "Max, we need you in the game. We need that 'Mad Max' that we all heard so much about from Tori."

Max blinked and looked around, face turning a crimson red at how everyone on the team was looking at her with that same analytical look that Taylor had given her. She loved the game, but hated how she still spaced out. Did not seem to matter where or when – Max just mentally "popped off" to somewhere else on random occasions _and_ , more often than not, at the worst of times.

"I'm here, Taylor," Max grumbled, shaking the hand off her shoulder a little more forcefully than she had intended, frowning when she saw Taylor roll her eyes, "Sorry. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Victoria said, reaching over to bump her helmet against Max's, "Be SuperMax. But for now, take a seat. Dana, you're up. Kate, you're jammer. Taylor and I will guard your back. Dana, you take the front. Put those long-ass legs of yours to use."

"I don't want to get injured when I have cheer tomorrow, Victoria," Dana warned as she slipped on her helmet, tucking her ponytail into her collared, sleeveless shirt, "I swear, if I miss another game because of this you're gonna have to hold another tryout."

"Just get your ass out there and stop complaining, D-Molition," Victoria retorted with a groan, "…How the fuck could anyone choose _cheerleading_ over this, I'll never know…"

"I heard that, 'Queen of Blackhell'!"

"I know you did!"

Max snorted from laughing and looked over in surprise as Rachel took a seat next to her while Chloe sat across from them on the Dropouts' bench. Feeling Rachel cozy up to her, Max smirked and patted her friends leg before taking the offered hand and squeezing it as they watched the girls get ready. Hearing Chloe call out to her Bay City College teammates, Max looked over at the bluenette and narrowed her eyes.

"I can't believe you'd play against your old teammates!" Max said, "Such a lack of respect, I swear to Dog."

"Hey, blame Queen Victoria, Caulfield," Chloe shot back, her smirk matching Max's before it soured when Rachel rested her head on Max's shoulder, "Hey, hey! Get a room, you two! What's the hella fuck is this about?"

"What?" Rachel asked in feigned innocence, stroking Max's cheek as the freckled brunette rolled her eyes at the obvious teasing, "You're not the only one who knows Max is a _total_ cutie, Price! Besides, you're the enemy right now so who do you think gets snuggle rights?"

" _What_?"

"That's right," Rachel continued, goading Chloe on by draping a thigh over Max's lap, "Movie nights, sleepovers, et cetera. What _don't_ we do, Maxie?"

"Oh, God," Max said, bringing her hand to her face as the match continued, oblivious to the action as she was pulled into the playful square-off between Rachel and Chloe, "Are you cereal? Leave me out of this. I'm here for roller derby, not some tug-of-war between you two. Besides, you sleep on my futon. You've _never_ slept in my bed with me, Rachel."

"Ouch," Rachel said, frowning, "I thought what we had was for realsies, Maxie."

"Damn, you hella got owned," Chloe said with a chuckle before all three girls jumped a little in their seats as the air horn blew three times, "Shit, someone's really hurt."

Max followed Rachel and Chloe to where the Dropouts team captain was sprawled out by the guardrail, her teammates all looking frantic as Victoria issued instructions for someone to call 911. The lithe captain, unconscious and bleeding from her nose, was thankfully still breathing as Max noticed with relief the rise and fall of the older girl's chest. Having not paid any attention to the jam, Max skated over to where Taylor was hugging Kate and tapped the tanned girl on the shoulder.

"Taylor, what happened?" Max asked, seeing the watery eyes of the other girl as she looked over her shoulder at Max while Kate looked up with bloodshot eyes from where she'd been resting her head on Taylor's chest and sniffled, "Kate? What the fuck-?"

"She tried to barrel through all of us," Kate blurted out, "I swear, I didn't mean to elbow her in the face. It was instinct – I felt her hand on my shoulder and I guess I was jumpy. _Am_ jumpy. I felt her nose crunch under my elbow and she just kinda rolled into the guardrail and folded in half before passing out."

 _"_ Oh my God, are you okay?" Max asked, reaching over to put a hand on Kate's shoulder only to find herself become the new chest for Kate to cry on as she latched onto Max while Taylor hugged them both, "Aw, Kate. I'm so sorry. This… It happens in derby, y'know?"

"I know that, Max," Kate said bitterly, her voice half-muffled by the material of Max's outfit, "But you didn't feel… I haven't done _anything_ like that in any of our matches before. I think… Taylor, can I go home?"

"I don't think so," Taylor said, looking apologetic as Kate's eyes widened in horror, "If the paramedics are coming, they might want to know exactly what happened and the last thing we need is someone else telling your side of the story."

"I thought we all signed waivers…," Max said in confusion, eyebrows knit together as she looked at a thin-lipped Taylor Christensen.

"Yeah, but you never know. Sometimes it'll turn into a grudge which can become some kind of legal action _in spite_ of the-"

"She can go home," Chloe said, skating over, "Katie, you can head home. I talked to the other girls and we know you didn't mean to put the kibosh on our captain. We won't rage at a cop if one shows up or anything like that. Scout's honor."

"Th-Thank you," Kate said, looking over Max's shoulder at Chloe before looking at Max herself, "W-Will you give me a ride back to the dorm, Max? Please?"

"Sure, Katiebear," Max said, prying Kate off her so they could slowly head toward the locker room area as the sound of an approaching ambulance could be heard, the flash of people's cell phone cameras going off as the Dropouts' captain started to come to, "I'll take you home."

Chloe cringed a little at "Katiebear", remembering fondly from when she and Max were younger and how it had been "Chlobear". _Life's fucking weird_ , Chloe surmised, watching as Max held onto her sniffling friend until they were behind the swinging double doors that led into the back area that had been remodeled into a large locker room area. Skating back over to where her teammates were, Chloe saw them all look away as she approached and knew there was trouble. There always was – these girls knew each other inside and outside the track and Chloe was the punk stoner _outsider_ who had defended her old team's latest rookie. A rookie who happened to have a reputation in Seattle for being hard-hitting one moment and remorseful the next.

"You could have backed us up, Chloe," one girl said. Chloe thought her name was Claire. The Dropouts only had their derby names on their outfits, and Chloe did not feel up to saying some of them out loud. They were _that_ bad, "Our captain gets gut-checked and then her nose gets-"

"Yeah, because I _totally_ knew that was all going to go down. Pff, please," Chloe said, crossing her arms after she took a seat on the bench when everyone on the team moved to sit in the center area after the captain was ushered away in the ambulance, "I'm pretty sure those girls were just as terrified as we all are."

"Don't act like you care," another Dropout interjected. Chloe knew the girl's name, but did not care to say it; the remark stung enough to mute what empathy she had noticeably as her souring expression got a withered one fired back at her, "That's right. We're on your 'home turf' so why would you give two shits? Never mind that we took you in when you asked. You've got a great track record in derby, Chloe, but you don't really seem to give a damn when it comes to us as people."

"…Say it, don't spray it," Chloe mumbled, eyes averted until she sighed and rubbed at the bridge of her nose, smearing the black grease paint that she had swiped under her eyes in two stripes, "Look, you have all been hella awesome sauce when it comes to letting me in on the Dropouts and shit. At the same time, you've made it clear that I'm pretty much a charity case because I don't belong to your sorority or what-fucking-ever. I'm good enough to play with, but you're not chill enough to come and say high on campus. We don't hang around the same circles, listen to the same music, or are into the same things aside from derby. That pretty much got it?"

"…Pretty much," the girl said back, crossing her own arms. _Thanks, Diane_ , Chloe thought, "Maybe it'd be a good idea if you took some time off from the Dropouts, sorted your life out or whatever."

"I'm thinking less of a time-out and more of a buh-bye," Chloe replied, getting up from the bench in a fluid movement of lifting up her upper body while skating forward only to spin around and skate backwards at a crawl, "You don't even need me. You have a surplus of girls waiting for the spot I took, so just train them up how you like and let them suckle on the tit of your bullshit. I'm deuces. See you when I won't see you."

Chloe spun back around to head to the locker room, but wilted a little inside when none of the Dropouts tried to stop her. She knew, _had known_ , that she was "just a teammate" to them and not a friend. Still, it hurt; unlike the Dropouts, camaraderie in the Bombshells had meant something. _I fucked that up by getting expelled, though. God, they're not even in the school registry as a team. I helped_ build _that team, this place. I fucking run it on the weekdays for kids to skate in spite of not being a team member! I just-_

"Fancy meeting you here," Rachel Amber said, leaning behind the bleachers just opposite the double doors as Chloe passed by her without noticing the blonde Bombshell, "I heard some of _that_ out there, by the way. Ouch. I'm sorry, Chlo. They sound like complete bee-atches."

"…Wha? Nah, they're not _really_ that bad," Chloe said with yet another sigh. She felt like she'd been sighing a lot as of late. "They're just hella tight and I'm the loner who got picked up on the side of the road. No muss, no fuss. Plug, play, and unplug. I'll live, they'll live. We all live."

"You're rambling, Chlo-Chlo," Rachel said, her eyebrows furrowed as a faint pout formed on her almost-perfect face. Chloe remembered nearly kissing that almost-perfect face months ago. _What a colossal fuck-up. Best friend, but not girlfriend._ Not _girlfriend. The only one truly gay here is moi, experimenting with_ a _boy when I was younger not included. "_ What's up?"

"Forget it, I'm cool," Chloe said, but the words had barely escaped past her lips before the way to the locker room was barred by Rachel's body, arms outstretched, "Aww, c' _mon_ , Rachel! Lemme at least change out of this before you drill into mah brain!"

"I know something's bugging you big time because your 'Southern Belle' is showing."

"Mah _wha_ …?" Chloe asked before mouthing her own words to herself a couple times soundlessly, "Oh, fuck! I hate it when that shit happens! Thanks, _Mom_. Seriously, though. Let me change and you can pick my brain any way you feel like, yeah? Let me get my jeans and tank-top back on, my boots and jacket!"

"Fine, Chloe. Go armor up," Rachel said as she opened the door and followed behind, "I want to change, too. But don't go trying to sneak out. I know where you live and I'll totally follow you back to your place if you try."

Chloe changed quickly enough, wadding her derby outfit into an old duffel bag that had once served as her laundry bag while she slipped into something more comfortable, something she could feel like more than herself in. Something stronger. Ignoring the text from her mom, wondering when she would be home, Chloe lit up a cigarette as she reclined in the bleachers and began to furiously tap away at her screen. She might not be necessarily the most welcome person, but she knew that the bad heat between her and Max was a little cooler than before. _At least I_ think _she'll talk to me. Who knows? Maybe I'll catch her in a mood or whatever. Girl flips more than a fucking light switch._

 **Chloe: Max. Maxaroni. The girl on fiery skates.**

 **Chloe: Marry me.**

 **Max: lol illegal in Oregon.**

 **Max: But may the odds be ever in your favor ^_^V**

 **Chloe: NO EMOJI**

 **Max: YES EMOJI!**

 **Chloe: Ugh, fine. If it means you'll talk to me then fire away**

 **Chloe: I'm consenting under protest, tho**

 **Max: \\(^o^)/**

 **Max: I win**

 **Chloe: Win what?**

 **Max: Dunno, but I did**

 **Max: How's your captain? I swear I didn't mean to step on her belly getting up. Swear.**

 **Chloe: She's en route to the hospital, dude. I'm sure she knows that shit happens in derby jams. We all do. And it's ex-captain. I quit/got booted/mutual separation.**

 **Max: Can't say I'm sorry. Don't like the idea of jamming against you, though I think it might be chicken soup for my angst-ridden soul.**

 **Chloe: Ouch. Double ouch. You want a round two of us?**

 **Max: I dunno. Maybe? I just want to hash things out.**

 **Max: I want you in my life, Chloe.**

"Hey," Rachel said from the bottom of the bleachers, "S'up?"

"Texting Max," Chloe replied flatly, barely looking up from the screen of her phone to meet Rachel's grinning face, "…Shuddup."

"Tell her that you'll talk to her soon and that I need to talk to you now."

 **Chloe: GTG. Rachel needs me for something.**

 **Max: When DOESN'T she need someone for something?**

 **Max: xD**

 **Chloe: Truth, sista. TTYL?**

 **Max: You have my number. Keep using it ;P**

Switching her phone off, Chloe pocketed the device into her jacket and replaced the half-smoked cigarette with a blunt she procured from the same pocket she had secured her phone in. She did not smoke pot nearly as much as she used to, but when Chloe did she made sure the weed was quality. _No more dank bud from Frank, thank you very much_ , Chloe thought as she wet her lips and lit the joint before bringing it to her waiting mouth. The inhale was long and cathartic as she held on for a long moment, passed the joint to Rachel, and then let it out in a single, large ring of smoke. Portland road trips had their benefits to Chloe, tattoos and good weed being two of them. Leaning back further into the bleachers, Chloe hummed contentedly before she noticed the contemplative stoner look Rachel was giving her. It had been so long since they had both gotten high together, alone, that Chloe nearly forgot how Rachel was when she was high. _Shit._

"You ever wonder why we act the way we do?" Rachel mused as she took another quick puff before handing the joint off to Chloe's waiting hand, fingers outstretched for the pricey bud, "I mean, _why_ we are the way we are? Are we the result of everything that happens to us and around us, or is it already set in stone? Heh, stone. Stoned. Get it?"

"You haven't smoked in a while, have you? I figured Frank would try and blaze you up every night, you hang with him so damn much," Chloe remarked, a creeping bitterness to her voice. She did not approve of some of Rachel's friends, but they generally let shit slide for the sake of each other, "As for your…intense question, I dunno. I think we're the sum of our experiences, both internal and external. Christ, Rach, we've had this talk before! I thought you were going to egg me on about earlier-"

"You like Max."

"W-What?"

"You _like-like_ Max," Rachel said, lighting up a cigarette with a sudden sobriety that chilled Chloe to the bone. Had Rachel's "Stoner Mode" been an act? "The way you acted when I was just joking around with you, the redness of your face… You like her, you dumb fuckface, and you fucked up because you've probably liked her since right after you scared her away. Go ahead. Tell me I'm wrong. I dare you."

"…Shut it."

"Ohmygod, I'm _right_!" Rachel exclaimed, hands covering her mouth in what Chloe figured was likely an attempt to conceal the grin struggling to take shape, "Chloe Elizabeth Price, you're _so_ fucking-"

"I… God, Rachel, you think I don't know how fucking stupid I feel right now?" Chloe said, flicking the roach of her joint in Rachel's general direction, "I pushed away this…this amazing girl and only when she was gone did I realize what I was missing and _how_ I was missing her. Five years of nothing but watching her do her thing online because I'm too chicken-shit to rebuild that bridge…"

Chloe put her head into her hands and sniffled, remembering how hard she had been on Max the day she had severed their connection, their friendship. Max had not wanted to go to Seattle, she made that abundantly clear, and was _so_ apologetic that Chloe almost immediately regretted her words once they had come out. They still came, though, one word laced with all of Chloe's pent-up anger and bitterness over the loss of her father compounded with losing her best friend; Max took it as best as she could for as long as her mousey little form would let her until the hatefulness was too much and she was sent running. Not until Max was gone from her bedroom and the sound of crying could be heard coming from outside as Max ran away did the force of her own words hit Chloe. Lying in her bed, funeral clothes replaced with a generic anarchy t-shirt and cutoff jean shorts, Chloe cried.

"I'm sorry, Max," Chloe had whimpered to herself that day as she curled into a ball on her bed, feeling genuinely alone for the first time in her life.

"Hey," Rachel said, snapping Chloe out of her melancholic reverie, "You're working at it. She talked to you on the phone didn't she?"

"Yeah…"

"She's trying to open herself up to you, right?"

"I guess…"

"Chloe," Rachel said, scooting over so that she could put her hands on Chloe's shoulders and spin her friend around so that they were face-to-face with each other, "You're my best friend, and I love you, but you sometimes don't try for shit at keeping friendships. We were all tight at one point, the Bombshells, and you _could_ have stayed if you hadn't just up and drifted away once you got expelled. I bet if you asked nice, Tori would even let you back on the team…eventually."

"I don't give a shit about getting back on the team, Rach," Chloe said, regretting her tone when Rachel cocked an eyebrow and looked at her with pursed lips, "I mean, don't get me wrong, that'd be hella cool. My mind… Ugh, I have something…some _one_ on my mind that takes top shelf over the Bombshells right now. I know I can suck pretty hardcore sometimes, but… I really want her back."

Max had come back to the cannery to talk and collect her things, having left with Kate in her derby gear, but when she walked through the double doors to the conversation between Rachel and Chloe she could not help herself but stay as still as possible and listen in. Her childhood tendency to snoop refined to the point of earning "The Blackwell Ninja" as a nickname, Max pressed her body against the side of the bleachers and listened in. What Chloe said was so full of choked-up emotion and grief that Max wished she had heard the entire conversation and not just Rachel's "She talked to you on the phone, didn't she?" and on. _What else did they say? What did Chloe have to say for herself?_ Chloe was a mess of mixed feelings for Max at this point, her long-standing hurt still too strong to not be ignored entirely; however, seeing the girl she had known transformed into a blue-haired punk rock grrrl stirred old feelings up inside of Max. Those feelings brought back memories to the forefront of her mind that Max thought she had left behind, lazy weekend movie nights, sleepovers with marathon gaming, and their imaginary adventures as pirates and superheroes.

 _Chloe_ …, Max thought as she wiped the tears from her eyes with the flat of her palm, _You fucking dunce, why couldn't you have just told me all this shit when we first bumped into each other? Why couldn't you have sent me an email or a text? Don't you know how much I've missed you?_

Pushing herself off of the side of the bleachers, Max tried to look casual as she came around the corner while the two girls sat on the top of the bleachers with their voices carrying. Neither Rachel or Chloe seemed to notice her, so when Max cleared her throat all three girls jumped in surprise: Rachel and Chloe from the sudden appearance of the very girl they were talking about, and Max from their reaction to her clearing her throat.

"Uh, hey," Max said, hands stuffed into her hoodie pockets as looked up at them from underneath the grey hood of her light jacket.

"'Hey' yourself, you kunoichi," Rachel said with a chuckle, "How long were you listening?"

Max watched Chloe look at Rachel, then down at Max, then repeat with her eyes widening in horror as her blue hair framed a reddening face. Sighing, Max began to make the climb up only to stop when Rachel hurried down the steps to meet her a third of the way up.

"Don't be too much of an asshole, okay?" Rachel asked, lips nearly pressed to Max's ear as her words came in low and at a near-whisper, "She knows how much she has fucked up, but she _really_ wants to try again, Maxie. Don't fuck it up."

"I'm not the one who… Right. Right, I'll try not to," Max said, catching herself mid-argument to the response of a polite nod from Rachel before her friend took a bow and bid both Max and Chloe a "pleasant evening".

Heading up to the top of the bleachers where Chloe seemed to be fused to her seat, Max took a spot a couple places to the side and hefted the duffel bag she had stored her derby gear in now that she was changed into her jeans, shirt, hoodie, and sneakers. Unzipping a side pouch, Max retrieved a protein cookie and offered half of it to Chloe only to shrug when the girl turned her down.

"They're actually pretty good, y'know," Max said as she took a bite, "They're vegan, gluten-free, non-GMO-"

"So they're a hipster cookie for a hipster much like yourself?" Chloe asked, the slightest inclination of a grin on her face as she cast a glance in Max's direction.

"Har har, and yes, they're the perfect cookie for me," Max said, adding, "Jerk" before she continued on, "Kate finally went to bed. _Finally_. After sobbing into her chamomile tea for a minute or so. She chugged it down and just curled up into her bed and wished me a good night. I swear, if I hadn't heard from you that the Dropouts' captain was going to be okay I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to get back here to get my clothes… Thanks for that, by the way."

"Thanks for what?"

"For making sure that it was cool for Kate to take off. She was a mess and it would've only gotten worse if she had stayed. That was pretty cool of you, Chloe."

"Yeah, well, Kate doesn't deserve any hassle from what was clearly a roller derby kind of accident. She's a cool person. Maybe a little thick with the sermonizing sometimes, but she's too sweet to be dragged into any drama that she can fucking avoid," Chloe said, rubbing out her cigarette butt on the wooden floorboards of the bleachers as she slowly got to her feet before hearing the sound of rain pattering against the corrugated metal roof of the cannery, "Fucking great. I was going to ask if you wanted to hang out or whatever, but-"

"Why don't we… Well, why don't we put our skates on and just _skate_ and talk. Y'know, chill out here while the storm rages? Who knows? It might stop before it gets too late and you have your truck so you could always give me a lift, right? I do _not_ fancy riding my Vespa in the rain."

"Thou dost not _fancy_ , eh?" Chloe remarked as she let Max lead the way down, dodging the half-hearted punch aimed for her shoulder, "Whoa, Caulfield! Easy up! You could do something highly un-fancy with that!"

"Wowser, shut _up_ ," Max said, rolling her eyes though she kept herself facing forward to hide that she was biting her lip to keep from laughing, "My skates are in my gym bag. Yours in the back?"

"Yeah, just gimme a minute and I'll be right back, Max."

"Whatever you say, Chloe."

"What…What does that mean?"

"What? Oh, I dunno. I don't think it meant anything. Just hurry up."

"Okay… I will. Hurry, that is."

 _"Go_ , already."

i Max sat on one of the benches in the center area and slipped her sneakers off; tying her skates on, Max munched on the protein cookie she'd been nibbling at and put the uneaten half in its wrapper as Chloe came skating out a minute or two after she had disappeared behind the double doors. Gingerly using her long legs to cross over the guardrail, the tall bluenette began to skate in slow strides as Max set her snack down to go catch up. Skating side by side for a bit, the girls smiled at each other and started to pick up speed.

"So… Uhm, I'm hella sorry," Chloe started as they slowly cruised along the track.

"For what this time?" Max replied with a snicker, though the knowing look in her eyes told Chloe all she needed to know.

"You know damn well _what_ , Max. I… It just scared me at the time, and I was so fucking angry. I couldn't think straight."

"…I get that. It's just… You left me, Chloe, bailed on me after I had just bared everything to you… Or, rather tried to. I got so close, you _had_ to have known it was coming."

The girls went for another pass, Max lazily spinning around so that she was facing Chloe as they skated. _Goddamn,_ Chloe thought, _The girl really should go pro. She's coasting backwards on the track like it's literally not a goddamn thing. Hella sick._

"Would you, that is if you want to, be willing to give me another shot?" Chloe asked, the meekness in her voice internally irritating the shit out of her. Max brought that vulnerability out, and in spite of who she was presently with she kind of despised the feeling.

"…Depends, Chloe," Max said in return, a wistful look on her face as they turned one of the corners, Chloe impressed again that Max could absent-mindedly navigate the track backwards already.

"On _what_ , exactly? It's been five years, Max. We're damn-near starting fresh."

"Just…don't leave me again, if you do. If _we_ do this. Do _this_. Don't freak out on me and push me away."

Chloe came to a stop, Max following her to the guardrail. Sitting now on the track, their backs resting against the rail's support beams, Max looked over at Chloe and eyed the girl intensely. Chloe saw the intense look and felt her face redden, then flicked a quick look over to see Max looking straight ahead with some blushing of her own going on. _Hella glad_ _it's not just me who is crushing here, still._ The spark was there; Chloe knew it. The trick was getting the old spark to re-ignite. _I'd do anything at this point, to be honest. I'd fucking get down on one knee and ask her to be with me, like, forever._

"…Okay," Max said finally, breaking the increasingly stifling silence between them, "Two Whales. Breakfast. Tomorrow. Deal?"

"You fucking mean it? We've been there before, for the armistice-slash-peace treaty between us," Chloe replied, a wary look in her eyes despite the smile on her face.

"I fucking mean it, Chloe. Let's…give this another shot."

"Hella _yes_!"

 **Author's Note –**

 **Been a while since I updated this one. I'm going to try and wrap this up with one more installment, and then proceed to work on "Life is Hella" again.**

 **Stay hella, Cinnamon Rolls :)**


	5. Chapter 5

" **Loveover" by Hindsight**

Chloe woke up and instantly blared PissHead from her phone. She did not want to risk getting Joyce or David agitated by using her Hi-Fi stereo, but at the same time she needed _some_ music to accompany her preparation for the day. _I'm going to see Max again!_ Chloe thought to herself as she punched a fist into the air. Things had been cold to lukewarm between her and the brunette since they had been reunited, but with Max's declaration that they try being together again, Chloe could not help but be encouraged by that bit of news. Pulling a fresh tank-top, her old Bombshells jersey in fact, out of her dresser, Chloe closed it with a bump of her hip as she took of her sleep clothes and changed into something more suitable to how she usually presented herself. _Make sure everything I wear is reasonably clean, first off. Second, be sure to brush my teeth and wash my face. Don't wanna look like shit_ , Chloe thought as she finished getting dressed, heading out of her room and into the bathroom with a speed that mildly surprised her mother when the younger Price woman beat the older one to the bathroom.

"I'll be just a few minutes, Mom. Want to make sure I'm decent, is all," Chloe said, the smile on her face getting an awestruck look from her mother that left Chloe looking at Joyce in confusion as she brushed her teeth, "What?"

"I haven't seen you this excitable in a while, Chloe. That's all," Joyce said, leaning against the doorway while her daughter rinsed out her mouth, "You and Max finally make up?"

"Kinda. Yes. I think," Chloe replied, a slight pause between each affirmation as she tried to put together what was going on inside her head. She saw many different outcomes from this morning, but for the first time since she was reunited with Max there was not a single negative thought or feeling, "We talked and sorta did the whole hatchet-burying thing. Gonna start fresh, try and move past the drama."

"I'm glad. You could do with a more positive influence in your life, and Max seems to have herself together."

"Mom, you haven't seen Max at a derby match. Girl's, like, multilayered – outside of derby she's a photography nerd and total hippie, but when it comes to derby she's practically bloodthirsty."

"But _she's_ still attending school with the intention of graduating. She's working on her passions and empowering herself," Joyce replied, sighing when Chloe rolled her eyes at the mention of school, "I know, I know. You went and got your GED so you could attend college. I'm proud of you for doing that; to be honest, I wasn't sure for a while that you'd ever come close being in any school again. I'm just-"

"I know, Mom. Max is going through the motions while I kinda did my own thing and took fucking forever to figure it out," Chloe said before splashing her face with water. Drying off on her old pirate towel, Chloe turned to her mom, "Max's bound to have _some_ influence, I'll admit, but at the end of the day I'm gonna be me."

Exiting the house with nothing save a quick cup of coffee, Chloe realized she had some extra time to kill as she figured Max would not be up yet and Joyce was still getting ready for work. _Can't really try and snag free food if Joyce isn't there,_ plus _Max probably is still snoozing,_ Chloe thought as she whipped her phone out from her jacket while leaning against the driver's side door of her truck.

 **Chloe: Max, u up?**

Chloe waited a couple minutes, nearly sending another text before she smiled at the response she received.

 **Max: Am now. Jerk. What's up?**

 **Chloe: I know it's hella early, but you wanna meet up b4 breaky? Skate park off Main St.?**

 **Max: I know where that is. Yeah, sure. I'll be there in…30min…?**

 **Chloe: Dang, girl, you gonna leave me hangin that long?**

 **Max: SOME of us like to shower and get dressed in fresh clothes, Chlo. C U SOON**

Chloe switched her phone off and checked the bed of her truck for a skateboard. Seeing her board, the bottom emblazoned with an enlarged version of her sleeve tattoo, lying in the bed next to her derby bag, Chloe grinned and climbed into the cab of her truck. Starting off the drive off with some Le Tigre as she hit the gas, Chloe sped off down the highway towards the skate park. Arriving with another fifteen minutes to spare before Max arrived, Chloe having made a run through the local McDonalds for coffee, the blue-haired punk sat on a bench at the park and chugged the last of her coffee before standing up with board in hand. Having put on her derby safety gear, Chloe began her time at the park with a few ollies and a tre flip before she took on the half-pipe that had been dug into the ground when they had built the park years ago. Not doing anything overly fancy, Chloe just glided from side to side, kicking on occasion for momentum as she listened to music through earbuds and her phone. _Good way to start any day, a little bit of skating,_ Chloe thought to herself as she reached the end of the half-pipe and let her speed carry her to the rim from which she grabbed and spun to put her in a seated position where she had landed.

"Smooth moves," Chloe heard a voice call out to her over her music and removed the earbuds to look in the direction of the voice. Seeing who it was, Chloe was almost instantly to her feet, board tucked under her arm as she walked over to the brunette watching her from the same bench Chloe had previously occupied.

Nursing what looked like a cup of tea, Max was decked out in a red t-shirt with a bull skull on it and jean shorts, her usual sneakers sitting beside her as she sported her derby skates. Letting the other girl finish her tea, Chloe plopped down next to Max and leaned back into the bench.

"S'up?" Chloe asked before smirking as she shook her head a little. "I mean, good morning. How'd you sleep?" _Don't be so fucking loose, Price! Play it cool, but not that cool._

"I slept like a rock," Max said, a small grin on her face before she gently elbowed her companion, "Until _someone_ woke me up. It's okay, though – my alarm would've just woken me up a few minutes later. What about you? You sleep okay?"

"Dude, I crashed so hard I don't even remember falling asleep," Chloe replied, tugging at her beanie a bit while Max discarded her cup of tea in a nearby trash can, "So, um, do you come here often?"

"Wow," Max said, giggling a little, before she sighed and put a hand on Chloe's leg, "This is awkward, isn't it? It's so awkward."

"It hella is," Chloe replied, laughing, "God, this shouldn't be so fucking hard. It's _us_."

"Yeah, but there hasn't been an 'Us' in a while, Chlo."

"Fair point. So, do you come here often? I'm actually pretty curious about that."

Chloe watched Max settle into the bench a bit more before she answered, the brunette shrugging as Chloe just watched on with rapt attention.

"I've been here a few times. Mostly to watch some of the girls on the team do tricks here or to hang out with Rachel."

"So, uh, you and Rachel were a thing, huh?" Chloe asked, immediately wishing she had not. She wanted this, their hanging out together again and starting fresh, to not incorporate other people into the equation. _It's just me and Max versus the world, again_ , Chloe thought to herself, _Or, that's what I fucking wish it were. Guess I'm damned either way._ "I'm sorry. That's the last thing I want to talk about, to be honest."

"S'okay," Max said, reassuring Chloe with a pat on the leg, "We were, for all of a week. Never did anything, hooked up or whatever. We realized we were more like friends than anything more so we went with that instead. What about you? Surely you must be fairly versed in the ways of the world by now, Chlo."

"Me? Pfft, yeah. Uh-huh," Chloe said, stifling a laugh as she tugged at her beanie a little, "Nah, there was this guy years ago. A one-time sad shag, I was so depressed back then. But, no boys allowed since. Or girls, sadly."

"So what else have you been up to?" Max asked, bumping her shoulder against Chloe's as they sat at the bench overlooking the skate park, the clouds overhead creating shadows that played on the equipment.

"Uh, well I went to Blackwell for a bit…before I got expelled. I was in the Bombshells, as you well know. I went and snagged my GED, so I could go to Bay City College. I'm hella into science, but my artistic side – illustrations and design – that's my real jam. I designed my tattoo. You like?"

"I _do_ , actually. I've thought about getting a tattoo this year, since I'm 18-"

"Look out, world. Max Caulfield is truly a rulebreaker-"

"Oh fuck you, you brat," Max said with a giggle, "Yeah, so I waited until I could get one legally by myself. It's not my fault that my parents are too overprotective of me…"

"Overprotective? They let you derby, Max."

"After a _lot_ of fighting and arguments and shit between the three of us," Max said wistfully, thinking back to when she had first approached her parents about the idea of her doing roller derby. Looking at her phone, Max got up from the bench and offered Chloe a hand.

"Two Whales?" Chloe asked, figuring it was about that time anyway. She wanted this morning with Max to be fun, even if it was going to be a little brief due to both of their school schedules. Taking Max's hand, Chloe played the role of a smartass perfectly by being dead weight for a few seconds to let Max struggle a bit before she relented and sprang up with almost no assistance from the brunette whatsoever.

* * *

With Max taking the lead, having managed to narrowly avoid a few red lights that Chloe had not been as fortunate with, the brunette was the first between them to arrive at Two Whales Diner. Stowing her helmet in a side compartment, Max pulled out her camera bag and slung it over her shoulder before she leaned up against the restaurant's façade and waited for Chloe to arrive. Seeing her truck coming down the street, Max tapped on an imaginary watch with enough emphasis that she laughed a bit when Chloe responded to the teasing with a middle finger just before she parked her truck. _So, here we are again. Chloe and Max… Max and Chloe, back in action_ , Max thought to herself as Chloe sauntered over in her direction.

"Took you long enough," Max teased further, yelping when Chloe responded by going in for tickles, "No, goddammit! No tickling, Chloe! That shit wasn't fun back then at it sure as hell isn't now!"

"Ease up, Caulfield," Chloe said, raising her hands defensively, "I was just fucking around. No tickles, I promise… Though, to be fair, you _are_ hella ticklish."

"Jerk."

"Jackass."

The girls laughed at each other's insults before heading inside.

Max smiled at the wafting scent of eggs, bacon, waffles, and other various foods upon having entered the diner. Mostly, however, the scent of coffee drove her to the same table she and Chloe had occupied, Chloe right behind her as the girls nestled into their respective sides of the booth. Max was a little disappointed that Chloe had not sat next to her, but at the same time she figured that Chloe was probably thinking the same thing. Getting up from her seat, Max walked over and climbed into Chloe's side of the booth. _Now our side_ , Max thought with a little satisfaction as the punk went from being all splayed out in the seat to having to accommodate Max and her bag. Seeing Joyce approach with a pot of coffee and two mugs, Max smiled warmly at Chloe's mother.

"Hey again, Joyce," Max said, giving the older woman a little wave while Chloe was preoccupied with the menu and its contents.

"Things _look_ better between the two of you," Joyce said a tad warily, her smile a guarded one, as she laid out the mugs and poured each girl a cup of coffee, "Y'all make amends?"

"We're back in action again, Mom!" Chloe said exuberantly, the smile on her face so out of character to Joyce that Max had to stifle a giggle when Joyce's jaw dropped a smidge. "I don't suppose that-"

"Relax, Chloe," Max said, looking over to Joyce, "Breakfast is on me today."

"Nonsense! You two are _finally_ friends again? Breakfast is on _me_ ," Joyce countered, "A Belgian Waffle for the hungry gal and a bacon omelette for her pal, right?"

"It's like there's this psychic link between us all…," Chloe joked before Joyce smiled more genuinely and left with a little bit of a spring in her step, "Okay, so now that Mom's occupado for a bit, what do you want to do today?"

"W-What do you mean?" Max asked, furrowing her eyebrows a little, "It's a school day, Chloe."

"So? The shy, cliché geek can't skip _one time_ in celebration over us being friends again?"

"…One day in and you're already leading me off on some adventure. Things really haven't changed all that much, huh?"

"Nope!" Chloe said with a cheerful grin. "I'mma take you out to all my favorite hangouts. We'll get a little high, have a hella lot of fun. You'll love it."

"Chloe, I only smoke weed for _medicinal_ purposes. I might get a slight buzz from it but I've never gotten high like you do," Max said, the hesitation in her voice crushing her a little as she saw the disappointment etched on Chloe's face, "…Alright, alright. I'll smoke _a_ joint with you. A real one, and not the tiny ones I use for my anxiety."

Chloe raised her arms in triumph and cried out in victory as Max just sat there with her face reddening from all the attention. It was one thing when she was on the track; she could handle being watched or stared at because the track made her more alive than nearly anything else she knew. But outside of the jams and the camaraderie, she was just "Plain Max Caulfield". At least, that is how she saw herself. _I'm one day into being genuinely friends with Chloe and she's already getting me to try pot for reals. This is… Wowser, what have I gotten myself into?_ Max thought as she watched Joyce return with their food, a wide grin on her face that applied something of a balm to ease Max's worries. _Joyce would_ never _forgive Chloe if we did something too reckless, went too far on one of Chloe's stunts. Let's just see how this plays out._

Max cut up a bite-sized portion of the waffle and devoured the rest shortly thereafter, side-eyeing Chloe as the punk practically inhaled her omelette, toast, and extra bacon. The coffee long gone and replaced with refills, both girls had stuffed themselves in a matter of minutes. Pushing her plate away, Max patted her satisfied tummy and looked over in amusement to see the look of hunger still on Chloe's face. _Some things never change,_ Max amusedly thought, _She could inhale a freight train, I swear to Dog._

 _"_ Dissatisfied?" Max prompted her friend, motioning to the plate that looked as though it had been practically licked clean.

"Dude, if Mom is buying then I…might just grab a muffin. Y'know, for on the go," Chloe admitted unabashedly. Max did not need to be reminded that Chloe gave zero fucks what people thought about her. _Except for me. She cares what I think,_ Max thought.

"You're ridiculous."

" _You're_ lucky this isn't all going on your tab, Caulfield," Chloe said, a hint of amusement in her voice.

Sliding out of the booth, Chloe immediately behind her before she stopped to point at an oversized blueberry muffin in the display case, Max rolled her eyes and chuckled to herself a bit. Waiting for Chloe at the door as Joyce almost reluctantly gave her daughter the muffin, Max could not help but grin as Chloe arrived to greet her at the door with said muffin in a paper bag.

"Freedom!" Chloe exclaimed, holding out her fist.

"So what now, 'Fearless Leader'?" Max teased, bumping Chloe's fist with her own before they slapped hands and fist-bumped again. _Our old special handshake,_ Max reminisced as Chloe lead the way.

"Park your moped in my truck bed and find out, sistah," Chloe replied as she eagerly walked over to the Vespa parked next to her truck.

Working together, with a little bit of elbow grease, they managed to get the scooter into the bed of Chloe's truck. Climbing into the passenger seat with Chloe already revving the truck's engine, Max warily looked at her friend before sighing and giving the blue-haired girl a heartfelt smile.

"Let's see," Chloe said as she pulled out of the parking lot, the truck hanging within the exit out onto the street, "Skate park? Did it. Cannery? Multiple times. Hmm, well, David Dickbag is off patrolling BlackHell so if you wanna start our day together right it's by getting lit in my room with some hella tunes playing in the background!"

"You yank me out of school, and our first stop is your house?" Max teased, folding her arms in mock contempt, "I am disappoint."

"Hey, it's the _first_ stop. Of many," Chloe fired back, turning out onto the street as the girls headed for the Price-Madsen residence.

* * *

Graffiti, posters, and roller derby paraphernalia plastered the walls of Chloe's room as she entered with Max right behind her. Chloe looked over her shoulder at the awestruck brunette and turned around with open arms as if to signal for Max to take it all in. _Home shit home, but at least this room is mine. Have a lock for the door, a key – everything I need to keep the world out when I want to_ , Chloe thought as she sauntered over to the bed before plopping down on the mattress. As excited as she was to have Max in her room after all these years, Chloe was also a little hesitant. Not just _anybody_ got to enter her domain; aside from Rachel, not even her mom really ever came into Chloe's bedroom unless it were absolutely necessary. _And Rachel doesn't come over as often anymore now that she has Frank to keep her busy. The fuck she sees in that guy, I've no goddamn clue._

"So? My digs get the Maxine Caulfield seal of approval?" Chloe asked, smirking when she caught the nasty look Max gave her. "Chill. I remember – 'Max. Never Maxine.' I'm just giving you shit, Maxaroni. No need for shitty glares."

"I…like it," Max said, pausing as she looked around some more, "It's very Chloe Price."

"How non-committal of you," Chloe joked before poking around underneath her mattress for a metal box.

With Max sitting next to her, Chloe opened the box and pulled out a mixture of things – photos, notes, CDs – before finding a stack of letters. Handing off the letters to Max along with a CD, Chloe took a deep breath before speaking. She wanted to get this right, even if the letters made Max think less of her.

"They're letters I wrote to you…," Chloe said, pausing as she played with her bullet necklace some, "I, uh, I'd write to you whenever I was feeling lonely or like I needed an outlet."

"Chloe…"

"Let's not make a big deal of it, m'kay? Read them when you can, yeah? Just not here and now," Chloe said, flashing a smile both the girls knew to be a fraud as the punk got to her feet and proceeded to insert the CD she had nabbed from the box into her Hi-Fi system, "Remember this shit?"

"…That's the CD I burned for you!" Max exclaimed, turning Chloe's false bravado into sincere happiness as the blue-haired girl nodded in reply. "But that was so long ago. I can't believe you kept it, after everything that-"

"Dude, stop," Chloe said, walking over to put a hand on Max's shoulder, "Let's not talk about that day, y'know? I hella just want to spend time hanging out with my best friend again, and…and I don't want the mood to be spoiled. I'll crank some of your tunes, we'll get lit, and just hang out like we used to. Yeah?"

"Sounds good," Max said, Chloe nodding in affirmation as she played the first track and promptly snagged a joint off her desk, "I can't believe you just leave your shit lying there like that. If your stepdad-"

"If step _-prick_ ever had the chance to come in here, I'd knock him on his ass. Even if I needed a, I dunno, steel pipe or whatever," Chloe interjected before flashing her key ring, "Besides, I'm the only one with a key for my bedroom. I practically had to twist my mom's fucking arm to get it, but I need _some_ privacy in this goddamn town sometimes."

"I like the derby posters," Max said, Chloe taking note that Max had opted to change the subject, "Are these from jams you went to?"

"The older ones are from matches I watched, yeah, but the others are from games I played in," Chloe remarked, "Good times. C'mon, Max. Let's get lit!"

"I-I don't know, Chloe," Max replied, wincing under Chloe's look of disappointment, "I know I said I would but…but I just-"

"You _just_ need to sit there and take a few drags of the _real_ shit, the genuine article," Chloe countered, lighting up the joint as she danced a little in the middle of the bedroom. Taking a drag from the spliff, Chloe walked over and all but shoved the joint into Max's face, "Open up, Buttercup."

Chloe watched Max inhale and wagged her finger when Max almost immediately made to exhale the smoke. Nodding after a few seconds, Chloe grinned when Max let the smoke out and the punk saw an immediate calm start to roll over her friend. Sitting down beside Max, Chloe took the joint back and took a longer drag than the first, blowing out the smoke after a good amount of time in rings. She wanted to spend time with Max, sure, but she also wanted to see the brunette loosen up. _Things are still a little awkward between us_ , Chloe thought as she offered the joint to Max again, winking when the brunette pursed her lips as Chloe waggled her eyebrows.  
"Y'know," Chloe started as she took the joint from Max after the brunette took another reluctant drag, "It'd be dope as fuck if we _were_ on the same team. In derby, I mean."  
"Yeah, that would be sweet," Max said, nodding as Chloe watched her friend recline on the bed, "So many years… I wish they'd never happened, Chloe."

"C'mon, don't-," Chloe said before she took her beanie off in frustration. Getting down on her knees in front of Max, Chloe took the brunette's hands in her own, "Max, I am _so_ fucking sorry. I wish that day had never happened. _Ever_. I just want it to be like when we were tweens, hanging out and going on sweet-ass adventures. W-We could go to Portland for, like, a day trip. Stock up on beer, weed, and donuts!"

"That sounds fun," Max said, surprising Chloe with a gentle touch to the other girl's cheek, "But sadly we aren't little kids anymore."

"…I know, Max. I know," Chloe said, her eyes twinkling as her body reacted against her will and started to tear up, "I-I know I'm kind of a fuck up and a loser for pulling such awful shit on you so long ago, but I will do anything to make it up to you. _Anything._ "

Chloe watched Max ponder her words, the blue-haired girl searching her friend's unreadable expression. She needed to know, desperately, what was going through Max's head. What had started out as a casual, fun hangout was turning into something incredibly serious and Chloe needed to know where it was heading. _I…I don't know what I'll fucking do if this all breaks the fuck down. God, I shouldn't even have fucking brought that day up. Nice one, Chloe. Dumbass,_ Chloe thought before she felt Max caress her cheek. Looking up from where she had been staring at the floor, Chloe barely had time to take a breath before Max's lips were on hers.

The kiss was unexpected, to say the least, and Chloe's mind was so frazzled by it that all she could do was pull away after no more than a few seconds. Eyes wide as a hand went to her lips, still feeling the taste of maple syrup from Max's breakfast as a result of the kiss, Chloe was at a loss for words. Getting up, stumbling backwards so that she tripped and fell on her ass, the punk cursed at herself and tried to get up only to look up and see Max standing over her with an offered hand.

"Is it really so hard to believe that I might try to kiss you, see what happens?" Chloe heard Max ask, the blue-haired girl unable to look her friend in the eye after making such a display of herself to the one person who she actually gave a shit about when it came to opinions of her, "Chloe, I may have been mad as fuck at you, but that doesn't mean my feelings for you ever changed…"

"…But I was an asshole, Max."

"We've both been assholes to each other. Let's be honest about that, at least," Max said, reaching down to take Chloe's hand and help the punk up."

It took Chloe a moment for her brain to fully process what had just happened. _What_ did _just happen?_ Chloe asked herself. _Was Max 'testing the waters' or was there more to it than that? The kiss… It felt so real, like there was something amazing as fuck behind it…_ Standing up under her own power now as she still had a hand to her lips, feeling her face heat up from blushing hard, Chloe put her hand down and tried to pass off one of her crooked grins.

"D-Damn, Max. You're hardcore-" Chloe started before she saw the serious look on Max's face, "Uh, I mean, that is… Fuck, dude, you _kissed_ me. Like, I'm kinda hella blindsided here, if we're being real."

Chloe watched Max take in her words, saw the brunette nod, and felt a little more at ease when she saw Max's expression lighten up some. The brunette walked over to Chloe's bed and caught the punk by surprise when she spun on her heel and took a photo with her Polaroid camera as she pulled it out of her messenger bag. Realizing she had been caught on film with her blushing, bewildered face, Chloe immediately crossed the space between them to try and snag the photo but stopped when Max slipped the Polaroid into her bag with a pleased smile. _Try that again and see what happens, Caulfield_ , Chloe thought before she walked over to her desk chair and plopped into it, removing her half-smoked spliff from the red Oregon ashtray. Lighting the marijuana back up, Chloe took a long drag before setting the smoldering joint in the ashtray as she shook her head.

"I'm so fucking confused right now," Chloe admitted, the tone of her voice akin to that of confession, "I mean, we go from not being able to be within the same general area for days and now you're mackin' on me something fierce, Max."

"H-How else do you feel about it?" Max asked, Chloe reading the look in the other girl's eyes. She could tell that Max was hanging by a thread for an answer, but Chloe did not know what to say that might alleviate the brunette's tension.

"Like, I feel that it was a total fucking shock. Amazing, surprising, be-fucking-wildering; you pretty much knocked my brain for a goddamn loop, dude," Chloe replied, pausing for a moment before she got up and walked over to the bed so she could sit beside Max. Hesitantly placing a hand on Max's thigh, Chloe gulped a little. She hated feeling so meek, so vulnerable. Max had knocked down every defense the punk had set up in her head with that kiss. _Like a goddamn battering ram of feels, Max_ , Chloe thought before she leaned in to give the brunette a kiss herself.

Chloe's kiss was harder than she had intended at first, nearly smashing into Max's face at first. When their lips connected, however, Chloe slowed the pace a bit and began to give the other girl several tender kisses rather than a lengthy one. Feeling Max's soft lips against her own, the heat from her own face being complemented by warmth radiating from her companion, Chloe loosened up a little and felt the tension ebb from her body. Pulling back after a couple minutes, Chloe took a deep breath and let the air out through her teeth as she smiled weakly at Max before flopping back onto the bed. Followed quickly by Max joining her on the bed, Chloe hid her face with her arm as she tried to hold back tears. She did not want to cry, not even in front of Max; Chloe was so tired of crying. Remembering nights where she would spend the evening alone in her room, writing letters to Max that she would never send or looking at the picture of herself, Max, and her dad beside her bed, Chloe sniffled a little as she fought back the sobs. A single choked sob escaped her, however, and she immediately felt Max snuggle up next to her.

"I-I missed you so much, M-Max," Chloe said, her words breaking through the sob as she pulled Max into her arms, holding onto the brunette tightly, "I love you so much… Like, as a friend and then some. Please… Please don't leave me."

"Chloe, I'll always take you back."

"In a heartbeat?"

"In a heartbeat."

* * *

Max let herself be held by Chloe for a while, the hot tears coming from Chloe running down her cheek as the blue-haired girl pinned their bodies together with her arms interlocking Max within them. Her own eyes red and watery, Max closed them and let the tears roll down her face freely as the heartache from years ago and all the anger somewhat subsided, replaced with a kindness and love towards Chloe that had been buried beneath her hostile façade. That's what her anger towards Chloe ultimately was, in Max's mind, now that she had crossed the threshold of her feelings for Chloe: a façade. A rush of fear, however, gripped Max suddenly and while snaking her own arms around Chloe's waist as they simply held one another, Max was put a little at ease by the beating of her friend's heart.

"Chloe…?"

"…Yeah?"

"...I have to pee."

The snort from Chloe turned into a chuckle that quickly spread between the two of them. Feeling Chloe's arms loosen around her, Max let go of the punk and sat up. Waiting until the laughter was out of her system, Chloe still lying on the bed giggling, Max headed for the door.

"Be right back," Max said, looking over her shoulder to see that Chloe had sat up so that she could wipe at her eyes.

If anything, the break from being surrounded, inundated, by Chloe's presence allowed Max time to process what she had done…and Chloe's reciprocation. _She said she loves me, and as more than a friend, too,_ Max thought as she splashed water onto her face after having washed her hands, _Does this mean we're…something more…? Right now?_

"I… I hope so," Max quietly said to herself before she dried off and walked out of the bathroom and back into Chloe's room to find the punk gathering their things, "Chloe…?"

"Next stop, y'know? Like, as much as I _enjoy_ having you in my bedroom I'd kinda like to change the venue up a bit. How you feel about the lighthouse? I hella need some fresh air."

"…Yeah, fresh air sounds like a good idea," Max said, silently thanking Chloe for a lack of awkwardness between them, "C-Can you hand me my bag? It's right next to your foot."

"Not a problem, Maxaroni," Chloe said, Max biting her lip a little to hide the wide grin at Chloe's use of her old nickname. Pulling her cellphone out of her bag after it was properly slung over her shoulder, Max sighed at all the messages from members of the Bombshells. Pursing her lips at all the demands to know where she was, Max sent a mass text to all the girls letting them know she was spending the day with Chloe.

"Trouble in paradise?" Chloe asked, snapping Max out of her thoughts as the brunette's head shot up from where she had been staring at her phone, looking at all the reactions. _Especially Rachel's. Heart emojis from, like, half the girls. Wowser._

"Just letting the team know that I was with you, that's all," Max said in reply, stowing her phone back in her bag while Chloe slipped on her jacket, "Lighthouse?"

"Yeah. Lighthouse," Chloe said, taking Max's hand as she led the brunette out of the house and into the truck. Lingering for a moment before letting Max's hand go, Max gave Chloe's fingers a brief squeeze before she released herself from the other girl's grip.

The drive to the lighthouse and the walk up the hill was quiet, the girls holding hands the entire way. Max felt her awkwardness return here and there throughout the trip but would be put at ease with a single look from Chloe, a smile or grin calming her. Making their way up the hill, Max eventually started to trail behind the punk a little as she was the shorter of the two. Picking up her pace a little so as to not get left behind, though she did not think that Chloe would walk ahead of her to that point, Max and Chloe shared knowing smiles and sidelong glances at one another the entire way. _If it weren't for her driving, I'm pretty sure she would've been holding my hand then, too,_ Max thought as she smiled a little to herself.

"Whatcha thinkin'?" Max heard Chloe ask, looking up to find they had reached their destination.

The small clearing on the hilltop gave a breathtaking view of the bay, gentle waves lapping onto the beach and rocky shore as a small boat made its way out of the pier. Walking with Chloe to the sole bench occupying the small park space, Max pulled out her camera and took a shot with her Polaroid camera before joining Chloe on the bench.

"Thinking…about a lot of things. A lot," Max repeated, "Falling head-first into… Chloe, y-you said you loved me…"

"Damn straight. Lub-dub, Caulfield," Chloe replied, Max giving her a puzzled look before nodding in realization when the other girl put a hand to her chest. _Your heartbeat. I could hear it, feel it. It was like…a lullaby, so calming. I could sleep to the sound of your heart beating next to me,_ Max thought, "Max, what… What would you call this? Us, I mean."

"I dunno. 'Us', I guess. It's always boiled down to just me and you, regardless of the situation," Max offered. Seeing Chloe was not exactly satisfied with that answer, Max leaned over to kiss Chloe on the cheek, "Sorry if I'm not the most concise when it comes to answers."

"It's cool," Chloe said, Max noting the slight edge to her friend's voice. Putting a hand on Chloe's shoulder as though to reassure her, Max frowned when the other girl shrugged it off.

"Chloe, stop it."

"Stop what?"

" _This_. Putting your guard up. I'm not out to hurt you or fuck with you. I-"

"I said I loved you, Max."

"And I love you," Max blurted out, nearly putting a hand to her mouth after she had said it.

"…You do?" Chloe asked, the edge in her voice disappearing immediately, a softness replacing it.

"Of course I do, you dumbass," Max replied, looking at Chloe with a crooked grin of her own, "I wouldn't have kissed you if I didn't feel this way about you. I just don't think there's a label to what's going on between us, that's all."

"Oh."

Max nearly put a hand to her forehead; Chloe was being obstinate about them kissing, about them being together, and it was irritating the shit out of her. She loved Chloe, had loved her since she was thirteen. Turning in her seat so that she was facing Chloe, Max cupped Chloe's face and held it so that they were eye-to-eye.

"I. Love. You. If you want to label it, go ahead, but for me it's just about us being together again. Like, you get _me_. Exclusively. Swear to Dog, if you give me shit about this I will walk back to Blackwell," Max said firmly, a little of her own edginess bleeding into her words before she let go of Chloe's face, the blue-haired girl taken aback some by the expression she wore.

They sat there in a frustrated silence for some time, Chloe pulling out a joint to smoke while Max took another few shots of the waterfront before turning her camera on Chloe to snap a picture of the punk blowing smoke rings into the air. She just wanted to be with Chloe; that was it for Max. _We're here, together, and it's like that is not enough for her. What the hell do you want, Chloe, an engagement ring or whatever-the-fuck?_ Max thought as she all but shoved the Polaroid into Chloe's chest. Seeing the mild fury in Chloe's eyes, Max met it with her own before pausing. _It's falling apart. Stop it, Max. You're the one being obstinate. You're… I'm afraid she'll hurt me again._

"I'm sorry, Chloe," Max said, breaking the building tension between them, "I guess I'm a little scared. It's like… When you're coasting on a track, everything feels easy and you are just gliding by. I feel like we're barreling down towards a sharp turn and I'm afraid we're going to crash before we get where we're going."

"…And where are we going, Max?"

"Somewhere. Together," Max said, taking Chloe's hand.

* * *

Chloe let Max lead the way as they headed into the cannery, the punk's hands stuffed into her jacket pockets as Max was carrying her gym bag over one shoulder and camera bag over the other. She was still a little bothered by the non-committal answers she would get from Max regarding their situation; all Max would tell her is that there's something there and that they would be together, to paraphrase. _We're either together or we aren't, Max._ You _kissed_ me _, remember?_ Chloe found herself thinking the same line of thought over and over whenever she would regard the brunette. Smiles and genuine affection towards Max were easy enough; Chloe did not have to even try, really. Just under the surface, however, was that underlying doubt and questioning nature. The uncertainty gnawed at her, and she hated the feeling as all it did was remind Chloe of how vulnerable she truly was.

"So," Chloe started as she took the pair of skates offered her by Max, the two girls sharing the gym bag, "About earlier…"

"Chloe…," Max said with an exasperation in her voice, leaving Chloe to try and ignore the dejected tone to no avail.

"Forget it," Chloe spat, a little venom in her voice as she hurriedly slipped on her skates and took off onto the track before Max even had a foot in one of her own.

Chloe always felt a sense of calm when she was on the track, even during jams. She could be lethal on the course, but there was always that centered feeling at the core of her person. Even with the turmoil going on inside of her presently, she felt at ease. Looping around the course once, twice, before Max finally joined her, Chloe kept her hands in her jacket pocket as Max sped up so that they were skating alongside one another.

"School'll be out soon," Chloe mentioned, looking at the clock hanging on the far wall just below where the announcer sat, "The other girls will be here pretty soon."

"Mm-hmm," Max said, nodding, her eyes locked forward as Chloe would shoot her sidelong glances out of the corner of her eye.

Speeding up a little, Chloe shot out and gained a half-lap ahead of Max. She did not know what to do or think, save to skate faster. Part of her wanted to be away from Max for the peace of mind, the other part wanting nothing more than to skate with the brunette. She wanted to hold Max's hand as they skated, she wanted more than just the vague innuendo Max offered. _We shouldn't have kissed_ , Chloe thought, her face a mask as the sourness crept into her mind, _All it did was make things worse. We're not fighting anymore. We're here, together, but it's like we are so far apart, too. I can't stand this shit._

Braking on one skate, Chloe used the momentum to spin around before coming to a full stop so she faced Max as the other girl approached at a cautious pace. Hands balled into fists as she pulled them roughly out of her jacket, Chloe stood rigidly on the track with a determined look on her face. She was tired of pleading, tired of asking. She needed to know what was going on between them.

"Are we friends?" Chloe asked Max, the brunette coming to a halt just about a meter away, "Or is there more to it than that?"

"Chlo-"

"No, Max! I want a legit answer! This vague crap is hella bullshit," Chloe exclaimed, the strength in her voice faltering towards the end as her emotions began to bubble up from the surface, "I _love_ you, and I know you love me. We've kissed. W-We said some pretty hella deep shit to one another. We have spent the entire day together-"

"What the hell do you want from me, an instant relationship?" Max fired back, her face a mixture of sadness and frustration, "We were supposed to just be hanging out today-"

"And I suppose it's _my_ fault that it became something bigger than that?"

"That's not what I'm… God, Chloe, we're practically at each other's throats again…," Max said, the words almost sounding like a curse as she skated over to the guardrail and leaned against it, "I…I don't want to fight with you. Not anymore."

Chloe followed to where Max was resting and sat on top of the railing, the scowl on her face a clear sign that she was not pleased.

"I don't want to fight, either, but we need to…to sort whatever _this_ is between us out, Max," Chloe said, her voice a little stressed as she tried to be plaintive and neutral, "Do you think this is easy for me, Max? You're… You're my best friend. I have you back again, but there's more to it than that and we _both_ know it-"

"What the hell are you two on about?" a voice shot out from across the track, both girls looking over to see Victoria come out from behind the bleachers with the rest of the Bombshells, "Oh, just kiss and make up already. Goddamn, you two are so fucking lame sometimes."

"V-Victoria, don't be mean," Kate chided, coming up from behind her with a rebuking expression on her face that left Victoria acting more apologetic when she flashed all the girls a weak smile.

"Sorry," Victoria said, humbled by Kate's stern expression, "I was just teasing."

"I think maybe we should let them have the-" Rachel started to say before she was cut off by Chloe.

"Nah, it's cool. I need to take off anyway. Classwork and such for college," Chloe said, but as she moved to skate away, she found her right hand caught in Max's left as the brunette grabbed ahold of her, "Lemme go, Max."

The brunette held onto Chloe a few seconds more than the punk liked, and when she shook Max's grip off the tension between them was once more palpable, albeit for a different reason entirely. The disappointment etched on Max's face nearly had Chloe wanting to just hug Max and reassure her, but Chloe herself needed reassurance as well and Max did not seem to be willing to cross that divide. Sighing, her shoulders slumped a little, Chloe skated across the course and headed off without a single word to anyone. She caught the look of confusion on Rachel's face as they passed each other, but ignored it.

Chloe wanted to be alone.

An hour or so later, Chloe was at the junkyard with the pistol she had stolen from David's gun cabinet, a little drunk and a little high. _Thank God this thing isn't fucking loaded,_ Chloe thought as she cradled the sidearm in both of her hands, _Step-prick would kill me if he knew that I stole this, but the asswipe owns so many guns I doubt he realizes it's gone… Nah, he probably does and will find some way of searching my room for it. Good luck with that, you sack of angry, flaccid dicks._

"Thought I'd find you here," a voice said, so close to where Chloe was that the punk nearly jumped a little. Steeling herself, however, Chloe looked over her shoulder to see Rachel Amber approach from behind the truck, "Ah, the gun. Contemplating a life of crime, Price?"

"Aren't I always?" Chloe said with a sardonic grin, waving the piece before tucking it in the back of her jeans, "S'up?"

"I…gather things didn't go too hotly between you and Max today. I've never seen her distracted while at a derby track before. It was like how she spaces out in class, but more intense. She nearly crashed into all of us multiple times, she was so out of it."

"Uh, that sucks, I guess…," Chloe replied with a half-hearted shrug before she rolled her eyes when Rachel crossed her arms and crooked an eyebrow, "Look, Rach, the girl has my brain in a fucking blender, okay? She wants to be friends? S'cool. But…then things got intense, and amazing. The last time I really felt that way…"

"We were here," Rachel said, smiling fondly as she gestured to their surroundings with outstretched arms, " _If_ I remember correctly, you were a mess after that, too."

"Correction – we were both messes. Just different sorts of messes," Chloe interjected before heading off to her and Rachel's hideout with Rachel close behind. Plopping onto the bench seat with Rachel taking the spot next to her, Chloe slumped forward and took her beanie off to scratch at her blue hair like she always did when she was frustrated, "I don't know what to make of her. Maybe it's the years, maybe it's all the shit that's gone down between us, I dunno. All I do know is that she's driving me crazy right now and I just wish she weren't so indecisive about shit."

"This _is_ Max Caulfield we're talking about," Rachel replied before patting Chloe's shoulder, "She told me what you two said to each other. Chloe, she's just scared of being hurt again. You have to give the girl time."

"But we kissed-"

"And she knows that. She knows she moved things forward. She's not mad at you or frustrated that you want to move faster," Rachel said, "You just have to give her a chance to catch up, that's all. And not fuck this up, of course."

"Yeah, yeah...," Chloe said before looking at Rachel with a quizzical expression, "Wait, why is it always _me_ who is supposedly the one who fucks things up?"

"Chloe... You're not exactly easy to get through to with most people," Rachel said, her expression softening as she put her hand back on Chloe's shoulder and gently squeezed, "To be honest, both you and Max are stubborn as fuck. I just don't want you to do anything you might regret, that's all."

Chloe leaned back and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She had been running at full throttle the whole day, but it _had_ been Max who started all of this with a kiss. _And here I am, trying to push it even further,_ Chloe thought as she opened her eyes and blinked back the wetness she felt coming on.

"I need to talk to Max. Like, ASAP. Any clue where she's at right now?"

Rachel smiled mischievously, winking before she got to her feet and helped Chloe up.

"I _may_ have a vague inclination, Chloe Price..."

* * *

Max left derby an emotional mess inside, her cool exterior not giving way to the flummoxed state she was otherwise in. She had managed to eek out the bare minimum effort required for the Bombshells' practice session, her mind preoccupied with one Chloe Price. As she put her equipment into her bag, the next-to-last one out of the building, Max nearly ran headlong into Victoria and had to swerve to avoid her. Feeling a hand grab her arm, still sporting her skates, Max spun and found herself oddly caught in Victoria's arms.

"What?" Max asked, frustrated over Chloe, as she wriggled herself free of Victoria.

"Caulfield, you need to clear your head. That, or at least take it somewhere else that isn't 5'10" and blue-haired," Victoria offered, a worried smile on her face, "C'mon, we both know _who_ was behind your lame-ass practice jams tonight."

"I-I did fine, Victoria."

"You did a _shit job_ , Max," Victoria said, hands raised defensively when Max narrowed her eyes, "Look, we both know you're capable of better than how you did tonight. _Way_ better. My mom's out of town until late tonight, so the girls are all coming over for a private little soiree. Why don't you come?"

"I, uh, am not big on parties," Max stammered, cringing.

"Relax, Max. It's just gonna be us girls. Swear," Victoria said, giving the Boy Scout salute as if to reassure Max.

 _That doesn't make me any less enthused_ , Max thought to herself as Victoria took her arm-in-arm out of the cannery towards the parking lot.

The drive to Victoria's house was relatively long in comparison to the size of Arcadia Bay, her parents owning a two-story townhouse that was on the far outskirts opposite the industrial area where the cannery resided. Having changed into her sneakers in Victoria's town car, much to the other girl's chagrin when she responded by teasingly spraying Max with air freshener, Max sat in the back seat and finished changing into her street clothes as they pulled into the driveway. Eyeing Victoria's house as her driver put the car into park, Max thought about how nice the house actually was as she heard the faint sounds of girls laughing and shouting from the backyard.

"Victoria, if you have such a nice place _in town_ why do you stay at the dorm? I wouldn't want to be in a dormitory if I had such a nice house. I mean, well, _damn_ ," Max said as she climbed out of the back and started to head towards the front door with Victoria leading the way.

"Max, my mom is the art teacher at Blackwell and I'm at a fancy prep school. I want my own space, the freedom that comes with, and the space in which to thrive and have fun. Can you _imagine_ how my mom would act if I lived here while attending school? Do you know how micromanaged my life would be if I stayed home?" Victoria offered back before she opened the door and motioned for Max to come inside. "Besides, this place is basically just used by me for parties when I _do_ actually come home. Example being tonight."

Making their way through the house, Max did her best to not gawk at all the luxurious items surrounding her as they headed towards the back door. The house looked like something from TLC, chandeliers and art everywhere. _Victoria lives in a small-ass dorm but has one of the most luxurious houses in all of Arcadia Bay at her disposal? God, what must Chloe have thought when… No, dammit! Stop thinking about Chloe. For once_ , Max thought, shaking the thoughts from her head as they finally made their way outside and it was then Max's jaw dropped.

"You have a fucking _infinity pool_?" Max asked Victoria, despite the pool itself being directly in front of them. "Wowser…"

"Strip, Caulfield!" Taylor cried out from in the pool, nearly all the girls swimming in the bras and panties while Kate sat in her clothes at poolside with her legs immersed in the water. Seeing Kate wave at her cheerily, Max detached herself from Victoria and made a beeline for the gentler Kate. Looking over her shoulder to see Victoria shrug before she joined the girls in the pool, having stripped at lightning speed, Max sat down cross-legged by Kate and smiled.

"Didn't figure you for the partygoing type, Kate," Max teasingly chided her friend, playfully bumping her shoulder into Kate's, "You look happy."

"I am. A-And I come to Victoria's when it's just us girls."

"Ah. No boys allowed."

"Exactly!" Kate said, grinning before she pushed Max into the pool and quickly got to her feet so as to avoid Max's potential revenge.

Max's lungs filled with water for a moment before she came to the surface and spat out all the water in a series of coughs as she waded over to poolside so that she could catch her breath. Looking up at Kate with an admonishing grin, Max teasingly reached out as if to grab one of Kate's legs and choked out a weak laugh when the blonde-haired girl hurriedly took a couple steps back with her eyes widened. _Would serve you right, Kate,_ Max thought as she clung to the side of the pool and coughed for a minute or so until _all_ the water was out of her system, _Goddamn, the girls have been something of a bad influence on her, she's so quiet and shy in class. …Like me…_

Climbing out of the pool, seeing no other real alternative, Max stripped out of her wet t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers before jumping back into the pool. Swimming over to where the other girls were, Max splashed Taylor and laughed when Taylor responded by motioning for them to gang up on Victoria. Their efforts combined, Max and Taylor quickly left Victoria a watery mess as the pixie-haired girl's expression was one of being at a complete loss before she started laughing as she splashed them back. This went on for a little while longer, the other girls joining in as they all splashed each other while Kate returned to her seat until a car horn was heard from the other side of the house. Pausing in her splashing Courtney despite herself getting drenched by nearly everyone else in the pool, Max looked over to see Rachel bringing an awkward Chloe trailing behind her. _Fuck…,_ Max thought before an idea came to her.

Waiting until Rachel and Chloe were within arm's reach, Max submerged herself until her feet touched the bottom of the pool. Pushing off with all the strength she had, Max leapt up a little out of the pool and managed to snag a handful of Chloe's jacket before she pulled the blue-haired girl into the pool with a maniacal, giddy grin on her face while the punk looked at her in abject horror. Max let go of the frustration as she pulled Chloe down under the water and smiled at her apologetically while Chloe was half-busy stripping her clothes off before bubbles escaped her mouth as she futilely tried to say something to Max. Both girls coming up together just in time to see Rachel finish stripping before leaping into the pool with a cannonball that managed to splash even Kate, Max laughed while Chloe tried and failed to fume at the brunette.

"My phone, Max! My phone was in _my jacket_ , you turd nerd!" Chloe exclaimed as she shoved Max half in jest. Max could see that Chloe was a little upset and Max frowned a little.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to actually cause you any grief, dude," Max replied, grimacing a little as she apologized, "For cereal."

The girls waded in the pool, facing each other, as the other girls swam and splashed each other with a laughing Kate still sitting at poolside. Looking into each other's eyes, Max felt a thrill run up her body as Chloe awkwardly shot her a crooked grin. Smiling weakly back, Max motioned with a jerk of her head for them to take an empty part of the poolside area for themselves. Swimming over together, Max watched Chloe get out of the pool long enough to strip out of her chlorine-saturated clothes before she rejoined Max in a pair of drenched black boxers and a sports bra. Resting at poolside, the girls silently regarded each other as the splashing of the others faded away. Without realizing it, after a short time, they had the pool to themselves as the other girls gave Max and Chloe their space and went inside. It was just the two of them, alone in the pool with a clear sky giving way to the stars and moonlight.

"I'm…I'm sorry, Chloe. I'm such a chickenshit, so scared when you've done nothing but reach out to me time and again. I-I don't deserve-" Max started to say before getting cut off.

"Dude, don't even talk like that, 'kay? I… I was hella ready to just push things forward as fast as I could because I was scared of losing you again. I fucked up before, and my track record this week hasn't been the greatest."

"Mine, either," Max added.

"Besides," Chloe said, lifting herself up so that she was sitting at poolside next to where Max was hanging on, "You're like the strongest, smartest girl I know. You just need to push that confidence you have on the track out into the rest of your life, my dude. I believe in you."

"Really?"

"For cereal, Caulfield," Chloe said with a smirk, Max scowling a little at having her own words used against her…even if it was to her benefit, "I'm serious, though. You've changed so much since I saw you all those years ago. I… I really do love you, Max."

"I love you too, Chloe. I just… I want to take this slow, do things right. I want to get to know you again, be best friends but also something more, y'know?" Max asked, brow furrowing when Chloe chuckled a little. "What?"

"Nothing. Old memory. Just…kinda hella poignant."

"'Poignant'? When did your vocabulary get so complex?"

"I'm not stupid, jerk. I _did_ attend…or, was at least enrolled, at Blackwell for a while. _And_ I'm in college, so eat me."

The girls continued to relax beside one another, the tension that had been evident earlier in the day gone as they met each other halfway. With Chloe offering a hand as she had gotten to her feet, Max was hoisted out of the pool. With each girl going to where their clothes were piled up neatly together, Max having no doubt that Rachel had something to do with the little gesture, they got dressed in their damp attire and Max wrinkled her nose.

"What?" Chloe asked, sighing as she looked forlornly at her destroyed phone. "You know my mom's likely to kill me because of this, right?"

"We smell like a chlorine factory," Max replied before looking over to see Chloe cradling her dead phone in one hand, "Don't worry about the phone. I'll explain to Joyce what happened. Promise. I'll see if my parents will let me use the credit card they gave me to replace your phone.

Standing together at poolside, Max smiled as a thought occurred to her. It had been occurring to her constantly since practice had started that day, but now seemed as good a time as any to the diminutive brunette.

Hey, since we're here and you're without a team, I bet I could convince Victoria to maybe let you back into the Bombshells…"

"Doubtful."

"She will if she wants to keep me on the team."

"You're ruthless."

"I learned from the best."

Hands held together, fingers intertwined, Max and Chloe headed inside to where the rest of the girls were, their future unknown save that whatever they came across they would do so together.

 **Author's Note**

 **Wow. I never thought I would come back to this story, let alone actually give it an ending. Feels kinda surreal – Like GrumpyCat said, THE DEAD HAVE ARISEN. Lol**

 **I'll get back to Life is Hella shortly. Want to do a little more work on my OC story first before I continue to delve back into LiS fanfic**

 **Stay Hella, Cinnamon Rolls!**


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